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Cherry

Rusty Nesmith

Rusty Nesmith

Joined
Feb 16, 2021
Messages
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Location
Parkersburg, West Virginia
A friend and I try to play disc golf once a week. We were out yesterday and on the 16th hole found a cherry tree that looked like somebody just cut it down. After we finished playing we went to my house to get my chain saw and went back. We didn’t leave much behind.
 

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They are longer than they are wide. They will all be cut in half the next couple of days to get rid of the pith and the ends will get waxed. They will keep for a long time like this. Then I will start to rough turn bowls and vases to set on the shelf to dry. If I cut them any longer I don’t think I could have picked them up to set them in the back of my truck.
 
Great find, Rusty! I can sometimes get cherry from my neighbor the tree man. It finishes beautifully as we all know, but I have lost a number of my rough turns to cracking, even when I Anchor Seal the whole thing. But then again, even though I try to cut out most of the pith, I often turn pieces with more figure, which obviously are going to move/warp/crack more.

Cherry just cracks more on me than any other wood, so much that I call it "cracky." I should probably stick to straight-grained logs like most of what you've got there.
 
Rusty, nice haul. I get a fair amount of cherry here. I like the way it turns, smells and if sealed I don't have much cracking prior to turning and almost never once turned and set aside to dry. It's also one that I almost always soak in LDD right after turning if it's a once turned piece. My experience is it develops a thick tough oxidation layer that turns brown and can be a lot of work to sand off. The LDD soak really helps. Plus, soaking causes the red color to spread into the lighter color areas and give it all a deeper color. I like the look.

The vase on the right was LDD soaked. The one on the left was not. Same log.
 

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Rusty - pics can be deceiving, but it doesn't look like you've cut the pith (center of the log) out of many of the logs. Pretty much guaranteed to crack unless you remove the middle of the log on either side of the pith.
 
Sorry, liquid dish soap and water. Mixed about 50/50 but a little less works ok for me as well. I do it on certain woods, not all. Helps a lot when sanding once turned pieces. I buy clear liquid soap online. A lot cheaper. Mix up a batch in 5 gallon bucket and use for a number of pieces but if doing cherry then only cherry. Water will turn dark red. Make sure the piece is completely submerged and leave for at least 24 hours. I use a good sized rock to hold down pieces that want to float at first. Rinse when done and then dry per the usual process which for me is a brown paper bag. Robo has some videos on it.
 
John Dillon said:
Rusty - pics can be deceiving, but it doesn't look like you've cut the pith (center of the log) out of many of the logs. Pretty much guaranteed to crack unless you remove the middle of the log on either side of the pith.
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The picture is after I cut them in half with my chain saw. After that I cut the pith out on my band saw and waxed the ends.
 
curious what kind of sled you used to cut the pith out of a half round on a bandsaw? maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but it seems to me that it would be terribly easier and quicker to do it with a chainsaw (during the original cutting in half).
 
Tom Hansen said:
curious what kind of sled you used to cut the pith out of a half round on a bandsaw? maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but it seems to me that it would be terribly easier and quicker to do it with a chainsaw (during the original cutting in half).
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No sled. My bandsaw has a tall fence. I adjust the fence the distance from the blade I need, put the flat against the fence and run it through. Much easier on my back than the chain saw. If the log is small enough I do it all on the bandsaw.
 
The sap wood on that piece on the left will 'oxidize' out in a short time. Wish I had more cherry here. I have 4 black cherry trees planted, and they may be ready to harvest about the time my birth certificate expires....

robo hippy
 
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