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Blackheart cherry

Started by WV Sawmiller, April 24, 2017, 09:58:47 AM

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WV Sawmiller

   I guess I will find out as soon as it stops raining around here but is there any difference in the wood off a wild cherry (Prunus serotina) and a blackheart cherry? I am not sure about the scientific name for them but blackheart cherries have gone wild all over our area and this year promises to be a bumper crop. The fruit are good eating and they make good jam.

   Have any of you milled any for lumber? Does the lumber look different than wild cherry?

   I had a blackheart cherry fall in a runoff 5-6 months ago and bucked it up yesterday and pulled it to the mill site with my ATV. Not huge but I got a 25' log about 10" at the little end and maybe 14" at the butt. I figure I will cut into 3-8' logs and get what boards it will produce. I cut some of the limbs and tops up to make bench legs for some of my mortise and tenon benches.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Don P

Sounds like Prunus avium
Harder, stronger, better color, warps and distorts more during drying but then is quite stable. good stuff when you beat the bears to em  8)
I think we brought it from England, not sure.

WV Sawmiller

Don,

   Thanks for the response. I'd about decided nobody else had ever heard of it or ever cut any.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

catalina

Howard, im in the Mon/Preston area and have cut and milled 2 blackheart trees 4 years ago, both were 20-24 inch DBH side by side in an area we had cleared. Both had significant rot in the butt log in the bottom 2 ft or so but past that they produced beautiful looking lumber as I recall. As I remember they were exactly as Don described when fresh cut. They are currently in a stack of about 5000 bd ft of mixed "Cherry" lumber air drying that I will be unstacking and moving to a new location within the next couple months. I think I know which part of the stack they are in and can identify as i did pencil mark them. when I move them I will try to get a picture on here with a side by side comparison as most of the rest of the cherry it is with was cut at the same time from the same location. As they haven't been messed with in almost 4 years air drying, I am anxious to see how they look myself!

WV Sawmiller

   I bucked the log into 3-8' pieces. Pretty uniform at 10" on the small end but some sweep so was only able to get 1X6's (16 o fthem) out of them. They look more like mulberry in color than cherry to me.


 
This is the butt log. Others were about the same diameter.


 
Finished boards. You can see the bow indicating some of the stress from the sweep. The short board is normal wild cherry for color comparison.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Magicman

 

 


 


 


 
Could that possibly be what I asked about a couple of months ago and was told (correctly) that it was Laurel Cherry?
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

WV Sawmiller

Lynn,

   No, its definitely not Laurel cherry. I don't remember the points on the leaves, the leaves look shorter and wider and the fruit is definitely different. That fruit looks like some wild plums we had in our area where I grew up in NW Fla..

   I think Don P nailed it as the pictures I see of Prunus avium look like what we have here. The fruit are really good to eat if you can beat the squirrels, birds and coons to them. The trees this year have more blooms than I ever remember and with the mild weather we may have a good harvest this year.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

WV Sawmiller

  Okay, I went around to the backyard and took a few pix of one of my Blackheart cherries there. The blooms are just starting to fall off and I was surprised to find little green cherries as big as they are on them already.


 


 
A few remnants of the blooms can be seen here.


 
A couple of the green cherries showing. They will round out and not be so obviously oblong when they get ripe.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

WDH

MM,

Your Carolina Laurel cherry is a Carolina Laurel Cherry  ;D. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

caveman

WVSawmiller, the Prunus caroliniana or Carolina Laurel Cherry tree leaves sometimes have teeth, sometimes they don't and then some leaves have irregularly spaced points.  If in doubt, grab a green twig and shred it.  It will smell like cherry cola.

I have never heard of a blackheart cherry until I read this thread but I would like to see and saw one.
Caveman

WV Sawmiller

Caveman,

   I never heard the term till I got here. I am sure is a local/common name. Over my mailbox across the road on my neighbor's property we also have redheart cherries. They remain red when ripe while the blackhearts are dark and almost black. I always suspected they were bing. The birds and squirrels scatter the seeds and they germinate and are growing all over the country here. About every 4-5 years we have a good crop. They are among the first local trees to bloom and a late freeze usually gets most and sometimes all of them. This year's mild winter promises to yield a bumper crop.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

WDH

Your blackheart cherry is not native.  It was introduced to America in the 1600's or 1700's because of the sweet fruit. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Ianab

Sure looks like Prunus avium, which is a European species, native to the British Isles and though Europe into Asia. It's common as an ornamental species, and has naturalised into the US, and is even common here in NZ. It has small dark coloured fruit that many birds just love, so the seeds spread easily. First lawn mow in the spring I probably take out about 100 seedlings.  :D

Wood has the usual characteristic of other Cherry species, and can be used the same, including for smoking food.

Lots of different cultivars and hybrids exist, but if you have a good log, saw it, and call it "Cherry Wood".  ;)
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

WV Sawmiller

Danny,

   I suspect you are right. I'd call it Feral - a tame species that went wild. They do spread and grow well and are a great wildlife tree. I spotted another young tree on my creek bank in the yard today with fruit for the first time. I try to leave them when mowing and trimming unless they are obviously in the way.

   My best one was about 2' in diameter, mostly dead and I had to cut it to put a new roof on my goat barn. I cut above the first limb which then grew to about 4-5 inches in diameter. It grew over my barn so I could climb up on the barn and pick the cherries and any I dropped fell on the clean tin. I got 4-5 gallons off it in June then Superstorm Sandy hit on Halloween and a 42" fork fell off my 5' white oak and snapped off the tree. Several others have died but young ones are coming along well.

   This was the first one I ever had a chance to saw. It was more yellow than red but even normal wild cherry varies pretty widely in color from what I have seen.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Ron Wenrich

Prunus avium is what we call wild sweet cherry.  I've sawn some in the past and I never thought their grain was as distinct as black cherry.  It gets sold with black cherry. 
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

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