how long to cure or dry wood

[sccarnes]

about 8 months ago my neighbor lost a large cherry tree, it was cut up and has been sitting , he brought over some knots and branch sections, all covered with mud and such, i power washed the pieces and painted the ends,
my question, what would be the proper way to cut the sections, i do not have a chain saw, or do i lest the pieces sit for a while longer, i would guess this is where burl comes from?
and i know some of the carvers use this kind of wood, so let me know and we will get er done
SAM

[dnstehly]

I don't think you have to leave it sit any longer. I harvest all my own wood and often work with cherry. I usually allow close to a year for drying. If the tree was felled and cut up 8 months ago the wood should be dry enough that you can carve it without worrying about further splitting. As to the proper way to cut sections, that would depend on what it is that you want to carve from it. Decide on a project, figure out the size and general shape of the piece of wood you need for it, and cut it. Since you don't have a chain saw, I would recommend a good brush cutting bow saw. I hope I've been of some help. Good luck with it.

[sccarnes]

thanks david.
guess i was looking to cut it , but , i would hate to do the wood wrong.
is the split where it branches off , is that the burl part, or is burl a large knot?
so save the split or not>
me i got all the cherry i need for a while,
thought some one would want this section.
sam
got pictures, but got to reduce the size to load on site?

[Mitchell]

Burl is a knot, but not just a not formed by a branch.....it's usually on the trunk and seen as a growth deformation.

[Iowa Carver]

Sam there are not burls on every tree. Burls on some trees are very rare. Burls are growths that occur where branches started but didn't develop and result in a growth on the tree. You do get some swirly pretty grain where branches were and this area is often very tough to work because of the grain direction is radical. Hope this helps.

Corey

[dnstehly]

If there is any burl present it will generally show up as deformed lump that sticks out from the normal surface line of the trunk and is easily recognized. If this is wild cherry, that is a wood that very often produces burls but unless the tree is very large they are generally too small to be useful to turners or carvers.

[Eddy-Smiles]

Unless you've got power carving equipment I'd save the knots for later. As for the branches, if they are in fact fully dried and not too thick in diameter you can probably cut them with a good carpenter's saw, especially one of the new variety patterned after a Japanese saw that cuts on the pull.