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View Full Version : Beautiful, Wide Cherry



Martin Shupe
08-25-2003, 12:08 PM
I got this cherry a little over a year ago. I bought it from Good Hope Hardwoods. When I bought it, I did not have any idea what I would make from it, but I have been collecting cherry for a couple years now, so it really didn't matter. The boards are all from one tree. Some were 22 inches wide, but that included about an inch and a half of sapwood on either side. When you buy from Good Hope, in most cases, you have to buy the whole log. Of course, I learned from Kelly Mehler that you always want to buy the whole log for grain matching purposes.

Martin Shupe
08-25-2003, 12:34 PM
So I decided to use this cherry to make my hand cut dovetailed blanket chest at the Marc Adams school this summer. I call up Marc, and his widest planer is only 18", too small for my boards. I post a note on SMC, asking where I could get my wide cherry planed in Indy, prior to attending the Marc Adams school. John Weber was kind enough to reply, and I called the number he recommended, and they put me in touch with the Carter-Lee Lumber company in downtown Indy. So I call them up and they connect me with John Welch. I was able to set up an appointment to get my boards planed on Friday afternoon, prior to my Saturday dovetail class. John is in charge of the special fabrication division, which is basically a woodshop we would all like to own, with a bunch of guys building everything and anything you can imagine. They do a lot of restoration work, work for large corporations (think corporate office woodwork) and work for rich people; we are talking front doors that cost 20 grand and up. The best part about John is deep down he is one of us. A woodworker who loves wood and making stuff. So, when he saw my boards, he understood their value, and personally oversaw their planing. I forget how much he said the planing machine cost, but I think it was $80K. It is all computerized, and after the blades, there is an 80 grit roller, followed by a 120 grit roller.

Here's a couple of pictures of the planing process.

Glenn Clabo
08-25-2003, 12:51 PM
It's enough to bring a grown man to tears...what an awesome tree. I'm sure it's going to turn out to represent it's many years of life.

Martin Shupe
08-25-2003, 1:03 PM
It's enough to bring a grown man to tears...what an awesome tree. I'm sure it's going to turn out to represent it's many years of life.

Glenn,

You can't really tell from these photos, but it's got a lot of curl in it, too. Maybe it will show up in some of the other photos I am going to post.

Paul D. May
08-27-2003, 12:06 PM
Martin,

Didn't you have to remove the bark first? Looks like some great stock you got there!

Paul