Stuart wrote:

This is a topic I know nothing about.

A friend of mine had a cherry tree chopped down and offered me some
pieces
of it.

The largest is roughly 400mm diameter x 200mm long (far too big for my
lathe), there are a couple of pieces 150mm d x 160mm l and some 70mm d
x
200mm l.

Advice on how to season these properly for turning please.

Stuart


It may be too late already, but split the piece by cutting each side of the
plinth (very center of the tree) removed as it is the source of splits as
the piece is drying. Then paint the exposed end grain with two or three
coats of latex paint (assuming you cannot get your hands on Anchorseal).

If you are going to turn the cherry, you really want to rough turn it green
and leave the wall thickness 10% of the diameter. Then put it in a heavy
brown paper bag. or wrap it in a couple layers newspaper, and let it dry for
at least six months. Then remount and do the final turning and finish.

Deb