Can I do anything with this?

We have a small weeping cherry in our front yard that for some reason suffered very badly in the winter. All of the old wood at the top failed to resprout, but new growth is visible at the top of the trunk. However it will take years to become a reasonable specimen again, and I want to remove it. Is there any way I can use the wood?

It is about 7 foot tall and 7” in diameter. I have no kiln or way to dry large pieces of wood, and I would rather not have the possibility of termites attacking it if I left it outside near the house or in the garage. I just have no idea how wood moves from a tree to my workshop (shame on me!)

Thanks,

Phil

A couple of thoughts. First is that whatever is sprouting probably isn't weeping cherry, anyway. The weeping cherry was probably grafted onto other root stock, so it depends on whether the sprouts are above or below the graft. Second, do you have a bandsaw? If so, you could saw it into useable slabs with the bandsaw and let it air dry. Check out the forum on milling , etc as to how to dry it.

Have a lathe or know any woodturners? Some use wood that size to make bowls, vases, etc. Cherry is desirable.

JKJ

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Originally Posted by John K Jordan

Have a lathe or know any woodturners? Some use wood that size to make bowls, vases, etc. Cherry is desirable.

JKJ

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This ^^^ Bowls or something is about all you'll get out of it but could be really cool.

Erik

If you have a bandsaw, you can saw some thin stock out of it to make something small, like a box. The box below was made from thin boards sawn out of a piece of paper birch firewood. Neighbor was splitting it and noticed from the split face that the piece was flame. I sawed out boards that were about 1/2" thick and 18" long on the bandsaw. Just stacked them with small stickers (cross pieces to allow air to circulate between boards). 1/2" boards will dry in a month or so in a conditioned space. Be aware that cherry sapwood and heartwood shrink differently when they dry, you may get a fair amount of cupping. Any piece with pith or next to the pith will split, but I'd still saw it through and through (see pic below) and just salvage narrow boards off each side of the center boards. Final warning, a cherry this size is likely to have more sapwood than heartwood. I like the contrast, some don't.

I don't think there's any risk of termites if you don't already see signs of insects in the wood. Termites need moisture. Cut the bark off the pieces as added insurance.

You need to make a sled or some fixture to hold the log and keep it from rolling. There are lots of articles out there on such things. Here's one example, there are many ways to do it. But don't saw the round in a way it can roll. In my case I had a (kind of) flat face from it having been split; I jointed that flat and went from there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INBteQ-RpcE

Turning is a perfectly good fate for it also if you or someone you know turns.

Go for it -- you don't have much to lose except a little time. Clean your bandsaw well after sawing, the moist sawdust can cause problems if it sits somewhere.

Dave

Attachment 432251https://blog.lukehughes.co.uk/hs-fs/...me=through.png

One thing on your tree -- the graft is usually right at ground level, so it's very likely the regrowth is above the graft and will be what you had before. And not saying you shouldn't cut it, but trees that die back from winter injury often come back with a vengeance -- they have a huge root ball of a large tree pushing that growth and will grow at unbelievable rates if they were healthy before it happened. Silver maple is not a the best comparison as they grow like weeds anyway, but I had a silver maple sapling that was about 2 inches in diameter and died back to the ground. It resprouted and was 10 feet tall by the end of the summer, and that's a northern Minnesota summer, not a "real" summer. Might give your cherry a summer and see what it does before you take the chainsaw to it. Pruning it will probably be your biggest challenge.

Best,

Dave

Hate to lose a good tree. The cure is to buy one you like even more. Take a look at Japanese Stewartia .

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Originally Posted by Dave Mount

"One thing on your tree -- the graft is usually right at ground level."

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Yes, that's usually true, but not for a weeping cherry where a nice straight trunk is desirable. In that case the graft is usually higher,3-4 ft.

There’s not a lot of wood there. If you cut it down on your bandsaw green it’ll make a uncleanable mess’s, and it’s a young plant, the quality won’t be that good.

that said, you should 100% do it. Once you figure out and acquire tools/machines to
mill your own wood, you will never look back. Serious.

Guys,

i cannot see a graft scar anywhere on the trunk, but at ~6ft up, the bark changes dramatically (see picture). It is now very dark and rough compared to a smooth silvery bark on the trunk. Interestingly, the new shoots that are visible appear ‘cherry like’, so I am not sure if this is two cherries tree grafted together, or just one complete plant.

Thanks for all of the comments an advice on dealing with the wood. As a relative newbie, I only have a limited array of power tools (mitre saw, small bandsaw, router, etc) so I am not sure if I could tackle something of this size. If anything, I would cut it into 12-18” lengths and then figure out ways to handle it.

If I decide to cut it down, would it be possible to remove the bark, cut the shorter pieces in half lengthwise (probably by hand), let them dry briefly and then perhaps cut small trim/inlay/thick veneer style slices? Hopefully that would not tax my bandsaw too much.

Thanks again,

Phil

Phil, where the bark changes is where the graft is, it's two different kind of cherry. Anything sprouting below the graft will not be weeping cherry, it will be whatever was used for the root stock.

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Originally Posted by Phil Potter

It is about 7 foot tall and 7” in diameter. I have no kiln or way to dry large pieces of wood, and I would rather not have the possibility of termites attacking it if I left it outside near the house or

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I should have mentioned that I cut a LOT of logs that diameter into turning blanks and let them air dry indoors before use. With 7" and even cutting out the pith you can get decent sized piece end grain/spindle blanks for lidded boxes, ornaments, ring keepers, pepper mills, hand mirrors, gavels, magic wands, on and on...

I use a shop bandsaw, draw a line down the exact center of a log section, and make the first cut by eye. no jig or sled needed. I use small wedges to keep the log stable if necessary. Then turn one flat down on the table, make one straight edge, then with that half against the fence cut up that half into useful squares. Trim the ends square, cut away any defects, put anchor seal on the end grain and any wild grain, and put on the shelf to dry. To know when it's dry an easy way is to weigh the blank every few months. When the weight stabilizes the blank is as dry as it's going to get. I've cut 1000s of blanks this way and make useful sizes from pen blank size on up.

This is actually privet, an invasive shrub, nasty, rarely gets this big. Oddly, the wood looks and behaves like dogwood.
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A second way to cut on a shop bandsaw is to cut a length of log no longer than will fit on your bandsaw standing on end. Draw a line and make the first cut by eye. Then proceed as before.


JKJ

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phil Potter

Guys,

i cannot see a graft scar anywhere on the trunk, but at ~6ft up, the bark changes dramatically (see picture). It is now very dark and rough compared to a smooth silvery bark on the trunk. Interestingly, the new shoots that are visible appear ‘cherry like’, so I am not sure if this is two cherries tree grafted together, or just one complete plant.

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That change is the graft. I would seriously keep the wood on both sides of the graft in a single billet. Depending on the rootstock and scion used to make the tree, thin boards, a bandsawn box, or a turning made across the graft union could be quite interesting. Often there will be a very nice change in wood character at a graft union that can be a feature of your piece.

I've made some great stuff out of apple trunks where I dug enough of the root to get a box or turning across the graft union. Particularly with some of the M. niedwitzkiana or other "red" crab derived rootstocks, there can be spectacular color change at the union.

All that being said, fruit wood is a bugger to dry without serious checking and outright cracking, so getting something good could be a challenge.