I milled a 65" long cherry butt yesterday, I am more than happy with the lumber. Most of it is 1 x 12 with very few defects. I'm not sure what I will do with it but I'm thinking at least one drop leaf table for 2026-2027.
Short cherry log
- Thread starter sprucegum
- Start date
Beautiful stack!
I have got to find me a drop pile like that!... 12 inch clear cherry is not cheap. Heck, around here, you have to mortgage your first born to buy oak at slowe's or home dopot.
Where's the jealous emoji thing?
wow, primo stuff!
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- #7
This morning I end sealed it and put it away for a year or so along with some thick crotch slabs from the other end of the log. I weighted down with some less valuable ash and cedar. Next time I go to town I will check at the lumber yard to see if they have lumber cover to throw away. They are free and last longer than poly tarps.
Just out of curiosity Dave, how much of that stack will be usable in a year or so? What would you guess will be the loss factor - cracks, warping, etc? 10%?
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- #9
The stack of cedar on top will be pretty much all usable, it's pretty hard to ruin white cedar. The next layer is white ash that I sawed to put new bunks on my mill, most of it will find a use but probably 10⁰/⁰ will be stove wood. Next up is the 2" maple and cherry that I milled from very poor logs with the hope of getting some cutting board stock and turning blanks, I'm hoping for 50⁰/⁰ on that. The bottom is the short cherry, I think with the end sealing and weight on top the 1" will fare quite well. The thick slabs are a crap shoot I expect all of them will require a lot of work and imagination to make anything from them. The worst of the worst can be used depending on how bad you want to use it. Just imagine how many stopper and pen blanks I have there.
End sealed and buried, that 2 inch cherry isn't as likely to disintegrate. I have dried 1/2 inch slices of cherry from a crotch section of a windfall tree and was shocked how much useable wood was left after drying. I personally feel like cherry is one of my easiest drying fruit woods. Ymmv.
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- #11
Agreed, cherry is very forgiving, I had some boards that came of the mill thin due to log movement from tension in the wood. I had intended to save them for drawers and boxes but kinda dropped the ball. They ended up on my trailer bed for a month of weather. I was going to buck them up to burn but ended up saving most of them. I have milled cherry logs that laid on the ground for a couple of years. Rotted on the outside but still good inside.
Interesting, and thanks for today's learning moment. Is that why cherry was used so much for furniture back in the 50's and 60's?
Likely, that and it is pretty and not splintery like oak and hickory. And did I mention it sands nicely?
I have some beautifully colored oak but I would swap it to cherry in a minute because to me, the cherry is more useful.
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- #14
Love my cherry and maple, oak not so much
I know you've been doing it for a long time and you know what you're doing, but wouldn't the lumber fair better if the end stickers were a couple of inches from each end? Or doesn't it matter?
Once dry, will you use the lumber as is for furniture or dry further in a kiln?
