How would you cut this wood?

[John Keeton]

Kind of as a follow up to Sean Hughto's thread on bowl blanks, this cherry tree uprooted last year.
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This pic with my hand is for size reference.
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This was prior to the time I discovered I was a closet woodturner:D and the rest of it became firewood!:eek:

Now that I have "come out" and realize my inner self, I can't bring myself to cut this up and burn it. I know that somewhere in there are at least a couple of bowls, and probably with some decent crotch figure. Possibly deeper into the stump, there could even be some burl?!?

I know there will be considerable checking in the cut ends, and I am familiar with Grumbine's winged crotch bowl. That didn't excite me, but the thought of a nicely figured blank does!!;)

So, given what you see, what would you experienced bowl blank gatherers do?

[Bob Bergstrom]

With a chainsaw, set it up like it is in the second picture. Support it with some scraps to hold the in that position. A friend of mine showed me a neat trick to cut through the pith of both limbs. He positioned a 1" x2" piece of stock vertically with one edge lined up with both piths. He used that straight edge to guide the saw in alinement with both piths. He was able to stay on course and cut right through both of the piths. By doing so, there will be less tendency of cracking any more that there is. There should be some nice crotch wood hidden in there

[Matt Ranum]

I've burned lots of stuff like that before too in the past but sure look forward to whats inside them now.

Can't wait for the pics John.:D

[Ryan Baker]

I would slice that crotch section in half, as previously described, and probably make a winged bowl from it -- depending of course on what I found inside. That one looks grown together enough that it may have a nice bowl blank. I bet there are some interesting pieces to be had from the rest of the root section too.

But the real question is what do YOU want to make out of it? You already said you aren't interested in winged bowls, so don't do that. There are dozens of ways you could cut up this, or any other, chuck of timber. How you choose to make the cuts is driven partially by the piece of wood, and heavily by the types of blanks you would like to get for the types of projects you want to turn.

If you are looking for bowl blanks with interesting figure, I would still probably split that crotch section as mentioned. That will likely give interesting grain. It's hard to know without cutting into the wood. You really should get the piths (both of them) out if you can. But breaking the rules can work too. Sometimes simple crosscut rounds out of the trunk can provide interesting grain too. (Cherry will likely crack badly from the pith though.)

I find that figuring out how to carve up the blanks is part of the fun of the game. The design of the finished piece very much starts when it is still in the tree.

[Ted Calver]

John..Depending on how much the bark has grown into the crotch, you might be able to get a nice figured platter out of this guy in addition to some small bowls. If the link works, it shows a cherry platter from a similar piece.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/album.php?albumid=93&pictureid=830

[John Keeton]

Ted, I like that platter!! Very nice. I would be extremely pleased to get some figure like that out of this piece.

I picked up a gallon of AnchorSeal today, and will probably cut into this sucker over the weekend - similar to what has been stated by Bob and Ryan stated, and then see what it looks like closer to the base. I would really like to be able to get some NE blanks with some figure.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree with the others John. The crotch I would set it like the second pic's and split right down the middle.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

John cut that log as close as you can to the roots, that's where the figure is if any, the top half of that log is 2 separate logs with bark in between, a steep crotch like that is hardly ever grown together, a more U formed crotch is more likely to have crotch figure.
None of this is chiseled in stone but more likely than not, and yes then cut through the 3 piths, it would be the best way to cut no matter what's inside, just hope there's not too much checking, as that could ruin all there is in there :)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

John,

Check out this thread.


Fellow Creeker Martin Shupe sent me this piece of mesquite crotch. This was my first winged bowl. As Bernie says....these will test your pucker power....


http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=105537

[Dan Forman]

Don't forget that to be able to see the crotch figure, the bottom of the bowl has to be at the split side, not the bark side - otherwise the good stuff gets turned away. That tends to limit the size of pieces turned from crotch sections of modest size. But sometimes you get really cool stuff. Here are a couple of elm crotch pieces, still green, rough turned. http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/P1020317.jpg
(http://s98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/?action=view&current=P1020317.jpg)
Only 6" when finished though.

Plates or very shallow bowls will come out a little bigger: http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/P1020314.jpg
This was about 8".

Hope you find something very interesting in yours. And remember, even if it's too checked for bowls, there still might be some good spindle things in there.

Dan

[John Keeton]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Dan, good comments, and I had not considered that. Certainly, that would affect one's approach to this task! Nice wood, BTW!

Ken, that is a fantastic looking bowl!! There may be a possibility of something like that, but I suspect that would be beyond the capacity of my HF!:eek: And, yes, I know the answer to that - an application of Mustard!!!:D;)

Given Leo's comments, I may not find a lot of crotch figure in this stump anyway, but it is worth cutting into. At the very least, I should be able to get some decent bowl blanks - even if small and not heavily figured.

[Maylon Harvey]

[QUOTE=John Keeton;1296475]
Ken, that is a fantastic looking bowl!! There may be a possibility of something like that, but I suspect that would be beyond the capacity of my HF!:eek: And, yes, I know the answer to that - an application of Mustard!!!:D;)

QUOTE]

Poor John, he has to watch everything he says on here. He has to pre answer all the smart comments he knows will be coming from the peanut gallery. And he has become pretty good at it. But I have to say, watching his turning saga on here over the past few months sure has been fun.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Maylon,

It's sure been fun watching him....squirming....looking for a way out!:D

[John Keeton]

Leo was right - the bark went deep in the stump and no figure!!!:(
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The rest of the stump didn't look any better..
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I cut a little further on back, and no figure! At least I got enough to do a couple of bowl blanks of plain ol' cherry.

So, while I had the saw out, I split a piece of walnut, and a chunk of sassafras!!
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What a waste it would have been to have bought that Mustard Monster, and then be left with this!!!!:D:D

[Jeff Nicol]

John, Like Leo said, the really good stuff is in the ground! Since it is most of the way out of the ground, dig it up and get it to a pressure washer and clean it up. There will be some stunning wood in it! It can't hurt to look, or you could keep it for me when I come for a visit!

Jeff

[John Keeton]

Jeff, I have a pressure washer. Maybe come spring, I will clean it up and see what is there!! Sucker is too big to move without using the tractor.

[Dan Forman]

John---Even plain ol' cherry is pretty nice. Seal the rest of that stump up and cover it with a tarp if you can, until you can get the tractor out.

Dan