Another one of those "is this worth it" threads. A coworker has a cherry tree in her back yard. She says it is dead and the last wind storm blew it down. Trunk is suppose to be at least 8" around. How bad is the dead already part? And other than fire wood is this worth going for?
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Dead Maple
- Thread starter loberg
- Start date
john lucas
AAW Forum Expert
I've turned trees that were dead and laying on the ground and full of worm holes and partially rotten so I would say any wood has a possibility. I particulary like Cherry. I have one that the top blew out of. I turned what I could of that and I've left the rest of the tree which is now dying. I will probably crawl up a ladder and cut off about 5 feet at a time for future use.
Happy Thanksgiving evereyone
we had Lane Phillips asour demonstrator last month and he soaks his wood in boiled linseed oil for about a month then lets it dry,and turns it.
we had Lane Phillips asour demonstrator last month and he soaks his wood in boiled linseed oil for about a month then lets it dry,and turns it.
Most of the "rotten" trees I've worked with rotted within the pith area so I've been able to save much of the outer ring zones on the larger diameter pieces to prepare as bowl blanks. Maple and cherry trees, as well as some VERY large oaks (one with a trunk diameter of seven feet) are plentiful here and when one of them falls and litters the yard of one of the local property owners it's a wood turner's dream.
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You never know for sure what is inside any tree living or dead. Go help your friend at least get the tree out of her yard.
I turned a lot of bowls from a walnut log that was on ground for at least 5 years. The sapwood was punky but the heartwood was solid and being 2 ft in diameter I did not need the sapwood.
Cherry tends to rot much faster than walnut and walnut is one of this woods that lasts a long time outdoors.
I use a screw driver test. If I can push flat screw driver easily into the wood I generally don't bother with it. There are techniques for dealing with punky wood. I'd rather turn than deal with wood stabilization unless it is something special.
Happy turning,
Al
I turned a lot of bowls from a walnut log that was on ground for at least 5 years. The sapwood was punky but the heartwood was solid and being 2 ft in diameter I did not need the sapwood.
Cherry tends to rot much faster than walnut and walnut is one of this woods that lasts a long time outdoors.
I use a screw driver test. If I can push flat screw driver easily into the wood I generally don't bother with it. There are techniques for dealing with punky wood. I'd rather turn than deal with wood stabilization unless it is something special.
Happy turning,
Al