Cherry stump, 6 months after tree was cut

[Dixie_piper]

I happened to come across a cherry stump from a relative today. He said that he fell the tree 6 months ago, but just cut the stump yesterday.
I cut a block roughly 3"X3"X18" in efforts to cure a few pipe size blocks.
When I cut it, I noticed the heart wood felt moist to the touch. Now, I cut the block with my chainsaw because of the size I wanted and the hardness of cherry. I was wondering if the 6 months the tree has been gone count any for curing time or am I looking forward to another 2-3 month wait?
I plan to weigh it as Kurt suggested in the "green wood" post, great method.
The stump was roughly 18"X24" and 15" tall if that helps any.
Also I was wanting to ask if the grain pattern will be more pronounced with a finish cut? It seems a bit vague as of now in most places visible.
Thanks in advance!

[ToddJohnson]

To reiterate what Rad has already said, I think you might get better help with questions about curing wood (that isn't briar) by dropping in at a woodworkers forum. Lumberjocks is a good one. While some of us here have a fair amount of woodworking experience, questions about curing are probably better answered by professional woodworkers rather than pipemakers. The only person I know of here who's ever been a professional woodworker is Sasquatch. So maybe try PM'ing him in case he doesn't see this.

TJ

[Sasquatch]

If it felt wet, it's still wet, would be my guess. Great big stumps just hold moisture terribly because they can only release it through certain parts of the exposed tree, and are probably sitting on the ground in the first place, soaking up or trapping moisture.

As far as I know, you have two basic choices when you want to keep a wooden item from cracking as it dries. Wet/green stabilizers like PEG, or polyethyleneglycol, which is kind of like a wax that soaks in and basically retards moisture loss and aids in cell-structure retention. It sort of impregnates the wood. Because of this, it's probably not that good of an idea to do it to a pipe wood if you've cut small blocks already. I have no idea what smoking PEG-soaked wood would taste like, but I'm not interested in finding out either.

The other way to go is to let the thing dry out ahead of time and hope for the best in terms of crack management, using some kind of vapor control, be it wax, or just a plastic bag, or controlled room, or a kiln, or whatever.

I think the idea of plastic bagging some of these blocks is a good one - just let them dry real slow. You could also apply a bit of linseed oil to them, even if it affects the flavor of the pipe, it won't do so very much - it's decent tasting and non toxic.

I've looked at all kinds of stuff, big manzanita burls 2 feet across, for example, and thought "Wow, NONE of that is good enough to get a single nice pipe out of." Any miniscule crack is enough to rule a piece out. So if I were trying this, I'd cut fairly large blocks now, and seal the ends, maybe just with wax, let them dry and crack and do what they are gonna do for 6 months or so, and then have a look and see if there are some "pipe worthy" areas to use - places with no flaws.

One of the reasons hardwood is real expensive to buy is that someone has harvested it, sawn it, and most importantly dried it somehow, so by the time the prospective woodworker is ready to purchase, the stuff is ready for use, more or less.

But drying a big block of cherry out and then cutting intelligently to find a nice bit inside should be pretty feasible. You only need 3" of decent material, like Todd said.

FWIW I would guess that the "old school" in this method would take a small branch, possibly with the middle already hollow, and ram it into a piece of scooped out big branch, and call it a pipe, and stuff it and light it and if it cracks in a couple months, build a new one.

Cherry and apple both have fairly wimpy heartwood in the middle - very easy to scoop out and make a pipe from. So if you look at most "traditional" cherry pipes, (even the shape called a cherrywood favors this) they are 2 piece affairs, built more or less from branches .

[Sasquatch]

Like, here's a dead typical cherry pipe: http://briarfiles.blogspot.com/2008/01/ ... ywood.html

[Dixie_piper]

Todd,
Thank you for giving me the name of a woodworking forum! I've been tryingto find something along those lines with no success. Hence the reason I was asking here, which I do plan to "pre-screen" my questions from here on in to avoid asking any out of line or down right dumb questions (as I already have) also thank you kindly for your wisdom and patience!:) I sometimes get over zealous in type, which I'm also trying to keep in check from now on. Thanks again!

Sasquatch,
Thanks for the very helpful info! The link also helped greatly. If it would be okay with you, I would like to PM some wood working questions I have. Thanks also for your wisdom and patience!

And, I am ordering a briar kit in the very near future as well as setting the "one piece" pipe scheme on the back burner at least until I learn the ropes.

Once again, many thanks to the many here who've helped me and many others.
"May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow!"

[Sasquatch]

Ask away Dixie - I may or may not have answers for you, but I can probably point you in a direction where you can find answers.

[Leus]

A question: are you trying to make pipes out of wood other than briar?

Let me tell you this: many people have tried that before you, in all parts of the globe. I know I did. So far, only Morta and Olive seem to be 'good enough,' never 'better.' Cherry, oak, manzanita, whatever, they just don't cut it. Nothing beats briar, in my opinion (and in the opinion of the vast majority of the pipe smokers, from a couple of hundred years it seems.)

Cheers!

[Dixie_piper]

I am trying cherry for a few reasons.1) it's free to practice on
2) I like the grain pattern
3) I've seen more than one person with Cherry pipes in their collection.
I am ordering a briar kit, just biding my time for now.
Thanks for the info!