Shopsmith Forums

garys wrote:I came across a local guy who has some Wisconsin rough sawn cherry in his garage that he has had there for over 10 years. He is selling it off for $2 bd/ft. Living in a part of the country that has no wood, this looks like a true deal to me, so I bought some this week and hauled it home. I have no project in mind at this point, but my Wife said I shouldn't pass it up.
Hopefully I will get the planer out soon and plane it down to see if I made out OK, or I made a mistake....

Did the guy have the wood stacked properly, and spaced with stickers between? If not, it may still be green inside of the stack. Try some on the planer and let us know how it goes. Picture are acceptable here as everywhere on the Internet. :-) I hope you hit pay dirt on this find. I've been trying to find good pieces of black cherry large enough to make a salad bowl and platters (on some one else's Powermatic lathe).

mgdesigns wrote:Did the guy have the wood stacked properly, and spaced with stickers between? If not, it may still be green inside of the stack. Try some on the planer and let us know how it goes. Picture are acceptable here as everywhere on the Internet. :-) I hope you hit pay dirt on this find. I've been trying to find good pieces of black cherry large enough to make a salad bowl and platters (on some one else's Powermatic lathe).

Surely not Woodcraft's!:rolleyes:

Does it still work after recent table pedestal turning?:D

I planed the wood yesterday. Most of it turned out very nice. Like all rough cut wood, there are some flaws in it, but I suppose that is part of getting a better price. Supposedly, this wood was cut at a Wisconsin sawmill over 10 years ago, kiln dried, and then he brought it to North Dakota. The boards I bought were very straight, so I'm OK with that. All but one board cleaned up at about 1 1/4" thick. The remaining one needed to be taken down to 1".

The garage smells great with that fruity smell cherry gives off.

garys wrote:The problem with that is that winters here drop to -45 degrees and very few species of hardwood trees can survive these kinds of temperatures. Basically, I'm stuck buying my wood. I keep my eyes open for deals like this cherry, but for most of my projects, I simply pay the local wood supplier for the wood I need.

I'm just an ole Southern boy. Someone please explain to me why anyone would live anyplace that gets that darned cold?!?!?!

Back to the subject, I agree with everyone else. Go back and buy all he has. Even then you'll soon be wishing he had more. I've got some air-dried cherry that I traded labor for lumber on that had been in a shed drying for years. I LOVE it!!! It's beautiful, smells nice, machines wonderfully, feels good in my hands, and is just plain fun to work with (other than the tendency to burn).

fiatben wrote:I'm just an ole Southern boy. Someone please explain to me why anyone would live anyplace that gets that darned cold?!?!?!.

Mostly because cold is very tolerable if you dress for it. Your heat and humidity would make me sick really fast. Even summers here get too hot and humid for me to be able to leave the house.

garys wrote:I came across a local guy who has some Wisconsin rough sawn cherry in his garage that he has had there for over 10 years. He is selling it off for $2 bd/ft. Living in a part of the country that has no wood, this looks like a true deal to me, so I bought some this week and hauled it home. I have no project in mind at this point, but my Wife said I shouldn't pass it up.
Hopefully I will get the planer out soon and plane it down to see if I made out OK, or I made a mistake.
It is all 5/4 and thicker slabs right now, so we are thinking that a new Cherry dining room table might be in our future.
I did a couple of projects last winter with Cherry, and both my Wife and I loved the finished look.
My experience with Cherry is very limited, so ideas are welcome. Does it turn well on the lathe? How does it work with a router compared to other woods? My experience out here on the prairie has been limited to oak, walnut, and some aromatic cedar.

On the northern prairie, a tree is any grass taller than 2 feet.

Cherry can be worked similar to any wood except for one thing!!!!!!!

Cherry burns in a heart beat!!!!!!

To prevent burn marks make sure all you tools are razor sharp. When using the router make sure you allow for a final cut that is oh so thin or shallow that will take all the burn off.
Make sure you fence and splitter are perfectly aligned any bind will cause blade to get hot and burn the wood.

Hand tools are fantastic on Cherry because they don't burn the wood.

Before you try to sand any burn mark off try one of those new plastic pencil erasers, some times they seem to suck the burn out of the wood.

Plan all you cuts, contours and such so you make them in one fluid motion. Too fast you burn too slow you burn stop in the middle to switch hands and you burn. However once you get the hang of it, it become second nature and actually makes you better working on other woods.

I love cherry and work in it a lot. Problem is it is expensive and mistakes like burn marks are very expensive to repair.

Oh I also believe the only finish on Cherry is either hand rubbed lacquer or hand rubbed oil. Both allow you to fondle the wood and man that is living.

garys wrote:Mostly because cold is very tolerable if you dress for it. Your heat and humidity would make me sick really fast. Even summers here get too hot and humid for me to be able to leave the house.

Yeah, the humidity can be rough, but I always figured I sweated a whole lot better than I shiver! But then, I've been seen driving a convertible with the top down and snow on the ground. (Still, the snow is usually gone in a day or two and the sun is pretty warm.) My convertible guys online talk about a "season" for driving their cars. I drive mine year-round with no top (unless it's raining.) "a different drum" and all that

fiatben wrote:Yeah, the humidity can be rough, but I always figured I sweated a whole lot better than I shiver! But then, I've been seen driving a convertible with the top down and snow on the ground. (Still, the snow is usually gone in a day or two and the sun is pretty warm.) My convertible guys online talk about a "season" for driving their cars. I drive mine year-round with no top (unless it's raining.) "a different drum" and all that

Not too unusual for one who drives an italian car.!:D

I HATE cold I hole up like a bear in the winter.... summer you NEVER catch me in the house.

Any pics of the planed wood?

Here is some of the planed cherry. Since it was rough sawn, there will be more waste than if I had bought finish planed wood at my wood supplier, but I feel I got my money's worth on it.