Replies

1. 
   JeffHeath | Jan 06, 2006 04:52am | #1

   The only way I can explain this is to give you an analogy to make sure you know what I mean.  Lay the crotch down so that you are looking over it like a fork in the road with two choices, left or right.  Now, saw parallel to the ground.  If you saw it with the "2 forks" up and down, or vertical, you'll only get one board that shows the crotch, and it will be so unstable that it'll blow up while drying (which is what many cherry crotches do anyway).  Make sure you seal the end grain right away.

   Jeff

1. 
   redoy | Jan 07, 2006 03:03am | #6

   Jeff

   I appreciate your remarks. When I get it sawed I'll take your advice and saw it as you described. If it doesn't work I haven't lost anything. I am just playing.

1. 
   JeffHeath | Jan 07, 2006 09:05pm | #7

   That's the name of the game.  I've got several (5, I think) cherry crotches drying in my woodshed right now.  2 were a little rotted and split when I sawed them.  Even if they split and crack, you can still use them for beautiful figure.  The last one I worked with, I bandsawed right down the center of the figure, where it had split.  I worked each board to flatness and smoothness, and then glue them back together.  It worked out better than I had hoped.  I mixed up some dark tinted epoxy with cherry fine dust from my random orbital sander, and filled the splits with it.  Turned out real nice.

   Jeff

2. 
   woodsmanplus | Jan 06, 2006 04:59am | #2

   What I would suggest first of all is not to rush it with the saw.Seal off the ends with a good sealer like anchor seal or what I use is plain ole latex paint.Then look at it for a while untill you decide what you want to do with it.Its hard to tell you how to cut it not knowing what type of work you do.Good luck with it.

   Ken

1. 
   redoy | Jan 07, 2006 02:54am | #5

   I have already sealed the ends with latex paint. Giving it some thought sounds like a reasonable approach. Thanks for your help.

3. 
   trialnut | Jan 06, 2006 08:20pm | #3

   Redoy

   Depends on what you want for a grain pattern. Sawing it through the crotch, (seperating it into two branches) will give you flame figure while sawing it across, (making a stack of Ys) will give you crotch figure. The flame figure will only be near the split and will quickly turn into just plainsawn grain as you cut boards closer to the center of each branch. With cherry the crotch is apt to be split already so that may help make the decision for you.

   Rich

   The Professional Termite

1. 
   redoy | Jan 07, 2006 02:49am | #4

   Thank you for your help. I think I'll try the crotch figure and see how lucky I am.

   Thank you again.