I’ve been watching one of our black cherry trees the past year.  It was tall, dead, standing, and a large diameter.  It would likely have a lot of good wood for bowls, vessels and vases.  It was definitely dead, but still standing, which meant that it had minimal rot running through the tree.  I planned on harvesting the material next summer, but rotted roots couldn’t keep it standing in the recent warm weather.

A quick session with the chain saw yielded over three dozen quality logs for turning blanks, and another two dozen for the fire pit.  I stacked the logs and applied a coat of sealer wax to control checking and cracks.  Later this week, I’ll carefully rip each log into two turning blanks and move them to the wood storage warehouse.  I’ll let the logs cure for a few months to stabilize the moisture in the wood, ready for turning in the spring.

I pulled one of the smaller logs to do a test turn (see “Got Glue?”) and was reminded why I love turning cherry.