I chopped down a cherry tree....

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Actually, that's a lie: I only cut off part of it.  :laughing7:

References to apocryphal George Washington stories aside, I did some chainsawin' on a cherry tree in my backyard.  It was a large dead branch off the main trunk (no fruit off it it for a couple years!), and the single biggest piece is about 5' long, with a diameter of about 1'.  I'd love to have it milled down to use for a bunch of things, a guitar body first & foremost, but had some Qs.

I believe the procedures would be: mill it into workable planks, air or kiln dry, plane down to the proper thickness.  But what order?  I don't have a kiln, but I could easily stick it inside with a dehumidifier for a few days/weeks.  Or would it take less than that?  I figure the rough planing should happen after it's dried & stabilized, or should it?

The piece isn't particularly huge, but I should be able to get at least a few pieces 2"x 8" x 2-3'.  I guess I'll need to do some more measuring later, but since it wouldn't be enough for a one piece plank, how should I be cutting to end up with pieces the right size?

My understanding of cherry is it's relatively easy to work (950 on the Janka scale, about the same as Big Leaf Maple), and I can't see any particular reason - other than the potential weight - not to use it.  I really like the idea of making an instrument literally from out of my own backyard.

Thoughts?  Opinions?  Warnings?  Has anyone else done the same?

Also, a longshot: anyone know of a wood shop in the Puget Sound area that could do the milling?

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Actually, having measured it again, it looks like the actual wood is only about 9" in diameter at the thinnest, so that's even skinnier of pieces I'd be able to get.

 

[Cagey]

Hunting around a bit, it seems the consensus is you need a year of drying for every inch of thickness. You can speed that up with a kiln, but I don't know how much and they don't run for free. It also changes color pretty dramatically as it has a high tannin content. It all may speak to why you never see Cherry guitar parts. Even Warmoth, who's the king of oddball wood species in the world of guitar building, doesn't have a Cherry offering.

 

[swarfrat]

Tonally I've heard its about like Alder (tastes like chicken). It usually doesn't have a lot of figure, people associate it with furniture, it tends to be pricey for a wood with a pretty color but bland figure is, limited finish options). Also, as it tends to darken with age, most furniture guys "stain" it so dark it might as well be painted purple-black, and that's what most people think cherry looks like.

I suspect Leo's tightwad background, lack of dead rockstars who got famous playing it, and the fact that Bob Taylor isn't sitting on the world's supply of it and pitching to instrument makers are to blame. All pretty superficial reasons for someone with a cherry tree and an axe to grind.

 

[drewfx]

I'm pretty sure I've seen a few cherry pieces in the Showcase in the past.

 

[stubhead]

Cherry is a fine tonewood, and works and finishes very well. Furniture makers consider cherry to be a premier wood - alder, then poplar, are like the inferior cousins and they'll use them for interior parts. It all works and acts about the same - solid wood furniture shifts around with age and humidity too, so fine woodworkers do like to stay around the same families for braces and such. And yes, the reason alder has a "better" rep than cherry is because Leo Fender was too cheap to use cherry, so alder got the reputation (and the price!) and now, if a guitarmaker wants customers, he'd better stick fairly close to the M-O-R. You could spend a lifetime making guitars out of walnut and cherry and spruce and mesquite and sugar pine and if you know what you're doing, they'll be fine instruments.

It will take some time to dry it. The smaller you cut it now, of course, the faster it'll dry - but the greater chance of warping off into uselessness. I wood* personally send it off to Warmoth or Tommy at USA Custom or some luthier type with a large enough operation to do their own drying - you've got a pretty good infestation of 'em up there. And then wait. It's hard to imagine it costing much, all they gotta do is chuck it in the corner (& make a new friend). Maybe they'd take wood in payment? Importantly, to get it right, you need to measure the internal moisture with an... internal-moisture measurer thing, and they don't come from Ace Hardware for $7.95. If you're gonna screw the pooch, better to not do it on one of them once-in-a-lifetime legacy-type opportunities.

*(oh please....)

 

[dmraco]

Dry it.  Most mills have a kiln and should not have an issue helping you out.

I just built one from a pine timber.  It was 150 years old so no need to worry about drying


Depending on the shape I would mill it close to the final as you can. It may shrink a tad.  Not much.  Your final thickness should be 1.75 inches in most builds.  Go a little north of that and then plane to final thickness after drying.

From your dimensions you likely have enough for 2 bodies.