Weeping Cherry

[Mike Cruz]

My neighbor was taking down a freshly dead weeping cherry in his yard about a month or so ago and was going to cut this up for firewood. I begged him not to. He gave it to me...for a few beers and a couple hours of sitting around my shop chit-chatting, of course...:D

Dimensions are 44 inches long and 11 inches at the base.

Worth cutting it up and turning, or not?...

[Leo Van Der Loo]

My neighbor was taking down a freshly dead weeping cherry in his yard about a month or so ago and was going to cut this up for firewood. I begged him not to. He gave it to me...for a few beers and a couple hours of sitting around my shop chit-chatting, of course...:D

Dimensions are 44 inches long and 11 inches at the base.

Worth cutting it up and turning, or not?...

Cut it up and you can see what's in there, of course there was a reason the tree died, and I have seen really bad punky wood in Sweet and ornamental Cherry, so until you have a look you won't know, could also be gorgeous wood of course :D

[Steve Schlumpf]

Mike - congrats on picking up some Cherry - one of my favorite woods to turn! Everyone will offer some different advice on this - but it has been my experience that any of the fruit woods really want to crack while drying - or turning! Be sure to let the wood dry really good before turning - or if you have another method of drying (I use the DNA system) then have some fun roughing out! While roughing out - if the wood starts to dry - mist it with a spray bottle of water. It will keep the wood from cracking on you and won't hurt your turning!

Have fun with it!

[Frank Drew]

You might have some nice material in there, Mike; even though it's been end coated, I'd still recommend cutting the log down the middle ASAP, to relieve drying stresses.

[John Hart]

Well....I'm dying to find out. I keep looking at all the weeping cherries around here in other people's lawns, and can't decide whether it's worth risking the jail-time to cut one down and find out what's inside.

So please..save me from myself....make a bowl. :)

[David E Keller]

It looks like the tree may have some kind of lichen on the bark... That may be what killed it. We lost an oak tree last year from the same thing.

Regardless of my opinion, I think you need to autopsy the log immediately by cutting it up and turning it.:D

[bob svoboda]

Well....I'm dying to find out. I keep looking at all the weeping cherries around here in other people's lawns, and can't decide whether it's worth risking the jail-time to cut one down and find out what's inside.

So please..save me from myself....make a bowl. :)

Of course it's worth the jail time if they let you take your lathe :D

[Bernie Weishapl]

Looks pretty good. Now lets see some turnings.

[Mike Cruz]

Cool. I'm hoping for the best... I'm taking a turning class this weekend at Woodcraft. I hope to get practicing on my lathe by the end of the month. I'll let ya'll know what I find in this thing...

[Mike Cruz]

Well, I had a fellow Creeker come by this morning to talk shop and fill me in on the "turning world". I gave him (Joe) a little shop tour and a tour around the property. Boy, do I have a lot to learn about turning. I took my class at Woodcraft yesterday on bowl turning, and left thinking I was an expert and that I knew everything...:rolleyes: Hehe, like I was a teenager again... Actually, it was great having Joe over right after the class because I actually understood what he was trying to tell me! More on my class in another thread. I just wanted to thank Joe for coming over. It was a pleasure meeting him. We cut off about a 14" chunk off the fat end of the cherry log, cut it in half with the chainsaw and got a look inside. Both halves were pretty simple...no real figure or anything to speak of. Large growth rings, nice pink color. I don't have my lathe up and running just yet...hopefully very soon, so I gave both halves to Joe to let him create something fun. Maybe he'll post some pics.