My son has a stack of Bradford that was cut in the last couple of weeks. Some will fit my lathe. Your thoughts?
The pith is the heart /center stem going all the way up the tree, its the first area that cracks will develop from . You should also try and select logs with less branches coming out as the branch areas will be prone to cracking as well , below is a cut diagram , the pith / heart gets thrown away and the rest gets usedNot sure what you are saying about removing the pith. These are small branches and logs up to about 16-18 inches diameter.

Great picture.The pith is the heart /center stem going all the way up the tree, its the first area that cracks will develop from . You should also try and select logs with less branches coming out as the branch areas will be prone to cracking as well , below is a cut diagram , the pith / heart gets thrown away and the rest gets used View attachment 86952