Prunus ????

[ROOTSXROCKS]

Is this a black cherry Prunus serotina or a cherry laurel prunus caroliniana ?
the smell of the wood drew flies and was not the sweet smell I expected.

I had to take it when offered, I had know the tree was stressed and likley had figuring from fungus, now I am gonna mill it up, any suggestions on how to slice it?
there is a little fine black lines but not easy to see after the surface oxidised and changed colors.

I was thinking quarter sawn, but the scarred side is bullet marks so I was thinking of taking that slab deep to avoid the bullets.

a recent post about cutting in order to acquire the butt of the tree inspired me to cut low.

as you can see there is a minimal rot in the center, Im sure I can come up with a creative use for those curved pieces. if not the book matching I had planned something radial may come from it.

 

[ROOTSXROCKS]

bump for attention by the morning crowd

 

[Laird]

I would vote for the former. It appears to be a little big for the latter. Unless you know that it was an evergreen that's my final answer!

 

[ROOTSXROCKS]

That was my thought too, I had not expected the black cherry and being from a landscaper background carolina was the only one I knew for sure in Florida.

it is definitely deciduous and near 30" circumference and 75 ' tall.
I had thought it was the biggest carolina I had seen, but I never recall seeing it bloom or fruit.

Id really like to know itf there are any special notes on this wood before I finish cutting it up.

I'd really like to Know if those smaller pieces are worth milling. I know the ponderosa pines I cut up this past summer that were under 10 inches were not really worth much for the amount of wood I got out of them vs the time and effort.

I suppose its best to admit I am on a steep learning curve, most times its just fun to experiment with unusal species, and see what happens, but thats the occasional "big" redbud, holly or even a peach limb I got in OK.
the red bud polishes up real nice and the peach warps a lot when drying, as does the eucalyptus.

This is some serious board feet and 35 cents a BF to mill is an investment.
I might even go for kiln drying.

 

[ROOTSXROCKS]

SO how far do you suspect a AK47 round would make it into a cherry tree?
I know the side of the tree that received the shots but my experience has been slugs don't make it too far into the heart.

of course the mill operator will have the final say, but im thinking I might get at least part of the wood on that side to a useful piece or three If not I may just stand it up and carve me something big out of it with tools that can handle a little jacketed slug.


I know this is kinda a mixed topic but I figured my main focus was on the milling and the ID is just part of that.


Thank you Laird, ill come back and rep you as soon as I am able.

 

[Brmorgan]

I can't speak for Cherry but I ran across this bullet last year while milling a Douglas Fir log:

It penetrated a good 8" or so, but it was almost a glancing shot - the piece it's in is the outer waste slab, and it's only a couple inches in from the outside of the log. It didn't hurt the cutters in the slightest (big .404 milling chain), and it's even a jacketed bullet, so hitting one again doesn't really bother me. I never even felt it, but it sure worried me when I started seeing glints of metal shavings coming out of the cut with the sawdust! So I say, mill the bullet-ridden side of the tree to see what you come up with! Statistically, chances are you won't even hit anything (unless that tree has been shot at a LOT), but if you do it could be interesting.

 

[discounthunter]

try scraping some of the bark off and see if you can "see" any bullets. a metal detector is also handy,it will give you a rough idea of how many are in there and a rough depth.

im guessing here but most ak rounds are fmj ,given a cherry is pretty hard i'd say probably 2-3" penetration.

 

[ROOTSXROCKS]

thats about what I would guess too, I was just looking at it earlier and thinking the same thing about shaving the bark. most are isolated to one quarter so if I can get that half split into quarters I will be able to quarter saw 3/4 of the bole.

I am trying to avoid taking of the full round if I can but if not taking a 4 inch slab would be acceptable.

 

[Brmorgan]

1. How do you know it would be an AK round?

2. Why the hell WOULD it be an AK round? People down there just go grab an SMG and empty a clip into a tree for no reason? WTF...

Also judging by the picture of the "stump" piece split in half but still standing, it looks like you either hit metal or came painfully close in two spots - one dark streak near the very top of the piece, and one down lower near the top of the center rot.

 

[woodsrunner]

1. How do you know it would be an AK round?

2. Why the hell WOULD it be an AK round? People down there just go grab an SMG and empty a clip into a tree for no reason? WTF...

Also judging by the picture of the "stump" piece split in half but still standing, it looks like you either hit metal or came painfully close in two spots - one dark streak near the very top of the piece, and one down lower near the top of the center rot.

Brad,
This is North Florida. That blue water art deco sandy Miami beach crap doesn't exist up here. It is rough tough redneck boys who hunt wild hogs with dogs and a knife (no bs). They gator hunt with jon boats and bang stick, they deer hunt with dogs and 4 wheelers. They still cowboy for real here too. Cattle run under open range conditions and they chase em out of the swamps with blue heelers and pit bulls then when the dogs have the bulls wore down, rope them and drag them into the trailers. That could very easily be an AK round. I can drive 10 miles and buy an AK right now (semi-auto of course). Some of these boys don't care if the sun comes up in the morning. Anyways, North Florida is still wild and beautiful and still not too "contaminated" with the retiree crowd who only want to lie on the beach and bake like lizards in the sun. It's not the Florida of the TV ads.


Scott

 

[ROOTSXROCKS]

I think you nailed it Scott, that's cracker country for you.
and that's exactly the crowd that congregated there. I know there was clips of AK rounds emptied and black powder and various pistols.
it was this spaulting and staining from the wounds letting in pathogens that I expected.

 

[ROOTSXROCKS]

Well would you beleive

This tree is still sitting on that trailer, I went ahead and quartered them so they haven't split but the day before I was to take them to the mill I nearly cut my fingers off and well since I don't need that trailer much there they still sit and I need to get er done cause I need a new table top.

 

[SDB777]

SO how far do you suspect a AK47 round would make it into a cherry tree?

The distance fired before striking the tree, the composition of the project and the weight of the projectile all have a say as to how far the bullets are possibly in the tree. Knowing that the typical factory round for the AK-47(7.62x39) is a 120gr projectile(most like a steel core) that exits the barrel at approximately 2300fps and has 1480ft.lbs(at the muzzle).... But what we don't know is the density of the tree you actually cut into.
What would worry me is the typical AK-47 projectile usually is steel core(usless it was bought by someone that wanted to hunt with it-then it may have better ammo components). I'm thinking, run a metal detector over it...stay away from those steel cores!


My 2cents!
Scott

 

[ROOTSXROCKS]

Will I ever get this thing to a mill.

I have it quartered and it's still sitting on that dadgum trailer, and now it has popped a couple of the old tires, I hope to get it to a saw mill soon. last time I checked the bark was still tight.
I have a lightning struck post oak and now a very large red bay that died that needs to go too. I want to get the oak sliced into thin boards that will finish out at 1/4 inch. I have no Idea if the Red bay is good for anything more than turning. It died this past fall from the plague that has swept down the coast but it just snapped a few weeks ago 24 inch base was hollow and I havn,t cut it to see how far up that goes.

 

[rarefish383]

Back when I was a kid we could still get AP surplus ammo for real cheap. We shot a 2' thick White Oak round, standing up like it was growing, target stapled to side, with the 03A3 and that baby kept gettin up. Also when I was a kid, I went to a military school, and shot on the high power team. We mostly used M1 Garands. The AP we fired there had a tungsten-carbide core. When we dug in the burm the copper jackets were gone and the cores looked like they had never touched a thing. The core might have been about 22 caliber, and very sharp, Joe.