Stock wood with heartwood

[Smoke_Ring]

I have a friend who is cutting wood and there is a cherry tree that he can get for me for a stock. The tree is not big enough to use without the heart wood. I have never heard of using heartwood for a stock and would like to know if any one has some information on this.
Smoke Ring

 

Heartwood won't affect the strength of the stock only the color, It will generally be of a lighter color. Yer gonna want the plank to dry to about 6% or so which means a couple years in a basement or shed or send it out to be Kiln dried, and you need to seal the ends to keep it from checking Bill

 

[Stophel]

I think you're thinking exactly backwards. The heartwood is the desireable part. Sapwood is lighter colored. Now, you probably don't want the actual center of the tree. The wood is rather unstable here.

 

[Smoke_Ring]

Thanks for the information. Two years to dry will fit right in with how long it will take me to get the rest of it ready.

 

[Travis]

Fatdutchman is right. The dark center of the tree is the hart wood and the sap wood is the white wood next to the bark. I shared these pics with you guys before but this is my first go at slabing trees and im pretty proud of the results. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/[email protected]/album?.dir=ba70

 

[Erastus]

Trav

What the type of rig hooked up to your chainsaw?
Did you use a different type of chain for the ripping?

 

[rmonday2]

Trav, is that cherry and cedar?
And are those moisture percentages and cured weight?
That sure is some pretty stuff. I dought it would have turned out any better on a band-mill. :thumbsup: Ronnie... Is all of that stock material, or do you have a mantle or two planed?

 

[Travis]

Its a Granberg chain saw mill. My uncle bought in the 70's and the company is still making them. Im using a standard cross cut chain. It takes longer than a rip chain but your final results are smoother. The ones standing up are cedar but the rest are Black cherry and Sugar maple. If every thing comes out ok i should have 28 bp stocks or some pretty fire wood. The numbers on the wood are the starting or green weight and the other are the weight of the wood at 19% and 10%.

 

[Smoke_Ring]

You have some nice looking slabs there. When I couldn't find cherry large enough I cut out some maple and it looks like fire wood beside of yours.
Smoke Ring

 

[Old40Rod]

Great pics of your cutting operation, Trav, and you gotta respect a Mom who pulls green chain :winking: