baok Posted December 12, 2012 Report Share Posted December 12, 2012 I recently bought some cherry from a guy who had it laying around but was not ever getting around to building anything with it. I talked him out of it. He apparently got it from someone who had milled it from a fallen tree. Saturday, I set about planing it with a borrowed surface planer. Gentlemen, this is at least 10 times more work than I imagined it would be; even with a nice power tool to do most of the work! Planing by gregwest98, on Flickr Part of my problem is that the planer is sitting on the floor and I have to bend over a lot. I planed this one board and then had to go inside for a nap (although I later realized that I was coming down with a head cold at the time so that accounts for part of the wimpiness). Next time, I will put the planer on a table or something but that does not take anything away from the fact that these 10” by 8’ boards are heavy! As you might notice from the photo, I have a Dust Deputy between the planer and the shopvac and this works wonderfully. I filled the bucket twice with this one board. The boards seem thicker at the ends than in the middle which makes for some awkward planing. The planer will remove a bit of material from the ends and then stop as the thickness decreases and the rollers can’t drag it forward. So I have to drag them forward. I guess that’s what happens when you cut up a tree with a chainsaw and try to make your own lumber – I wasn’t there for that so I don’t know how it happened. Other than that, the stuff looks pretty good. One board containing the pith has some splitting down the middle but that’s not surprising. It occurred to me later that since I already know what I’m making with this material, I need not leave it full-sized. Last night I started breaking them down into more manageable pieces which should make the planing easier. I’ll just have to watch out for snipe. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to use an axe and wedges to get your material. The pioneers of this country were tough people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pghmyn Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 I recently bought some cherry from a guy who had it laying around but was not ever getting around to building anything with it. I talked him out of it. He apparently got it from someone who had milled it from a fallen tree. Saturday, I set about planing it with a borrowed surface planer. Gentlemen, this is at least 10 times more work than I imagined it would be; even with a nice power tool to do most of the work! Planing by gregwest98, on Flickr Part of my problem is that the planer is sitting on the floor and I have to bend over a lot. I planed this one board and then had to go inside for a nap (although I later realized that I was coming down with a head cold at the time so that accounts for part of the wimpiness). Next time, I will put the planer on a table or something but that does not take anything away from the fact that these 10” by 8’ boards are heavy! As you might notice from the photo, I have a Dust Deputy between the planer and the shopvac and this works wonderfully. I filled the bucket twice with this one board. The boards seem thicker at the ends than in the middle which makes for some awkward planing. The planer will remove a bit of material from the ends and then stop as the thickness decreases and the rollers can’t drag it forward. So I have to drag them forward. I guess that’s what happens when you cut up a tree with a chainsaw and try to make your own lumber – I wasn’t there for that so I don’t know how it happened. Other than that, the stuff looks pretty good. One board containing the pith has some splitting down the middle but that’s not surprising. It occurred to me later that since I already know what I’m making with this material, I need not leave it full-sized. Last night I started breaking them down into more manageable pieces which should make the planing easier. I’ll just have to watch out for snipe. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to use an axe and wedges to get your material. The pioneers of this country were tough people. Since I started buying rough sawn lumber, my favorite part is planing. I love the top "rough" layer coming off and exposing the grain pattern underneath. Looks like you have some really nice quality clear lumber there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_in_SD Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 I love Cherry and have done 90% of my WWing with it. Mills nice and finishes nice (as long as you know how to mitigate the blotch tenancies). My only complaint is that it burns easy which makes for more cleanup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pghmyn Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 I love Cherry and have done 90% of my WWing with it. Mills nice and finishes nice (as long as you know how to mitigate the blotch tenancies). My only complaint is that it burns easy which makes for more cleanup. How is it with chipping? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robjeffking Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 I bought a entire bunk of cherry for 180.00 from a person who worked at the mill and pulled off 2nds. Some of it is cupped,cracked knot holed and sap wood. It takes me sometimes 30 minutes to plane 1 board but in the end I come out with beautiful pieces. Look at each piece and if its bad cut out the bad spots. Take out the cups and split them and you will end up skinner pieces but usuable for trim and smaller projects. If the weather is nice take the planer outside and use it without DC it will speed up the process and elevate your planer you will be able to work longer. If you need the longer pieces that are not catching the rollers in the middle youll just have to pull them thru untill all the surfaces even out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robjeffking Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 I love Cherry and have done 90% of my WWing with it. Mills nice and finishes nice (as long as you know how to mitigate the blotch tenancies). My only complaint is that it burns easy which makes for more cleanup. That burning looks like your pressure rollers getting hung up and slipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_in_SD Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 No, burning on the table saw. I have a sawstop and it is dead on in alignment. Even then I get a minor burning. If I can keep the feed just right and don't hesitate (to grab my push stick for example) I can often avoid it. That burning looks like your pressure rollers getting hung up and slipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_in_SD Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 How is it with chipping? Do you mean tearout? On the planner I don't see any problem. But I always make sure I am planing uphill on the grain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baok Posted December 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 The stuff I bought seems pretty well behaved. None if it has torn out yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pghmyn Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Do you mean tearout? On the planner I don't see any problem. But I always make sure I am planing uphill on the grain. Or if you have made any cross cuts with it yet I would really like to work with this wood next, or walnut. Both are on my list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Freud's thin rip blade does a wonderful job ripping maple and cherry without burns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Burning is inevitable at some point. That's why Woodworking God invented skim cuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBaker Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 I've found that certain hardwoods burn in the saw no matter what. Whenever possible, I cut it a 1/16 th wide and plane it to the right dimension. This gives me a nice edge and eliminates all that extra clean-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pghmyn Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 I've found that certain hardwoods burn in the saw no matter what. Whenever possible, I cut it a 1/16 th wide and plane it to the right dimension. This gives me a nice edge and eliminates all that extra clean-up. I've actually started to do that as well seeing how much better an edge my jointer left as compared to my table saw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyF Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Nice! Cross cutting the boards and leaving 1-2" extra on each end makes it easy. Cherry isn't as hard or as strong as many popular woods. I made a cherry cradle, and I carried the entire cradle wrong while finishing it, causing one of the end panel frame tenons to rip open the mortise! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick2cd Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Nice! Cross cutting the boards and leaving 1-2" extra on each end makes it easy. Cherry isn't as hard or as strong as many popular woods. I made a cherry cradle, and I carried the entire cradle wrong while finishing it, causing one of the end panel frame tenons to rip open the mortise! I've had the opposite experience with cherry. I find it to be very strong and it mills well. I LOVE the stuff. Certainly, there are harder and stronger woods out there, but I've never needed anything stronger than cherry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baok Posted December 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 This borrowed planer is nice in that it doesn't snipe but the rollers don't pull the wood through very well nor are the knives sharp. I guess it would be polite of me to have them sharpened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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