Ok I have the dumbest of questions because there is probably no good answer.
But I cut down a couple of cherry trees and a mulberry tree that are in the way of a project. I am planing on sawing the good logs into lumber for furniture or other wood working projects not really sure what I will do with it just can’t see burning such nice wood.
So here is my question what thickness should I saw it?
I am thinking some at inch and a quarter and some at 2 inches and a quarter so I can plan it down to 1 and 2 inches figuring I will want some thicker stuff for table legs and the likes. I am still new at the band saw so I am thinking thicker is better as I can always plan it thinner once it dries. Anyway I was hoping someone with more experience sawing would have some advice for me.
Pictures of the saw logs would help.
Also, I would save the branches and put them in a chunker for smoking meat.
I just sawed out some pine that a friend gave me. I wasn’t sure what I would need, so I sawed out 1.5’’ x 12’’ that way if I need to I could stand them up on the mill and get 1.5x3.5, 1.5x5.5, 1.5x7.5 etc. which match store bought lumber. You could also saw out 4x4, 5x5,6x6 etc. then saw out on the mill later what you need. Just the way I do it if I don’t need it for a particular project. Just make sure you allow for saw kerf, and planing.
I will have to gather them up first. These where trees planted between the lawn and the field ao they are not that big or straight. When the logs got too small or twisted I sawed down to about 1 inch into firewood and was chipping the rest until the chipper broke a gearbox. Yet another repair project I have started now.
Frank thanks for pointing out that I could saw extra wide and resaw later. I just don’t think that way as I haven’t owned a mill that long but it is a great idea always easier to make wood smaller than to glue it back together if you make it too small…
The last mulberry I had sawed up the dimensions were 1 inch thick by as wide as possible up to 12 inch. Anything wider wouldn’t go through the planet. Also the mulberry will get darker as it ages much like cherry. Depending on the project you may want to saw the needed lumber to size to allow for color change.
I noticed the wedge I cut has already started to darken up it looks like both the Mulberry and cherry will be mostly dark heart wood. I just need to dream up a nice project for it I guess.
If you are a wood cutter ignore this, but if not then make sure you seal the ends of those board when you cut them or they will check. Wide boards may anyway and wide boards will twist and bow if they are not properly cribbed and strapped to air dry.
The standard is to saw in multiples of 1/4’s plus an 1/8 (if I recall correctly and extra 1/8min to 1/4"max).
My update:
Hot, hot and hot. French Creek is the lowest that I ever saw it. Water well drillers can not keep up. So many dry wells. Could be next July until they can fix all the dry wells. Always wet here. You can dig down with a shovel a foot or so and the next day there will be water in the hole. Not this summer. Dug down three feet with the backhoe and the soil was dry as a bone. I think, even if it rained, there would not be water in the hole the next day. Had white skies, way out here, from the forest fires. I’m sure there is more, however I have problems remembering stuff. Almost no time for gas. Plenty of TP in the stores now.
And now, for something completely different…
Seems appropriate for our times. 
WELL, If you’re going to bring Star Trek into the picture, here is another vid that us pure propaganda.
The drawback with leaving lumber in cants is the same as leaving whole logs to dry. Uncontrolled checking will occur. So you should always aim to dimension close to finished dimensions. Max width is no worry, when ripped you can take out the cupping when planing.
It will snow here soon, and the ground will freeze up, but it’s getting wicked dry. Well drillers also going full bore here. The summer was one of the hottest ever, but we got adequate rain much like lawn sprinkling. Did nothing for the ground water. My creek has stopped flowing, the beaver ponds are down about a foot and a half, it’s going to be a rough winter for them if it stays dry, their winter stores may be frozen in the ice, forcing them to forage in the snow. The wolves will really enjoy that. I think if we got 6" of slow rain now it wouldn’t even run off, that would just be catching up.
And the climate is getting weirder, sudden dramatic changes. Our spring was late, soil cold, till early June when it was like a switch was flipped, then tropical heat till the first days of September, then back to cold and the effective end of the growing season. But no general killing frost till this morning, very late for here.
Recently I heard a fellow calling this “weather weirding”. Too many one in a hundred years coincidences lately.
Well, this earth has been evolving forever, so it makes sense it’s going through cycles. 100 years is nothing compared to how long this earth has been in existence. What had to happen for land masses to shift? That happened long before the current mankind. the poles have been shifting for a while now, maybe it’s a contributing factor? Who knows, there’s nothing we can do about it. God’s in control.
I think that is a bit reductionist isnt it? It reminds me of the kid I knew in first grade who claimed god made the wind blow. I am sure you would be willing to concede that science does know quite a bit (including why the wind blows). I am willing to concede that science doesnt know everything, and it seems that we could all meet somewhere in the middle, right?
Science has made some insightful discoveries about the climate, and while I am sure some of it will be laughed at in 100 years, I am pretty confident a lot of it will still be in the textbooks. It is easy to write off things we do not understand, and just claim they are made up. I could not explain to you how the CPU in my laptop works, but I know it is not just because a deity wills it to. Anyway, I am probably skating on some thin ice here, so if you are offended by this topic, I will drop it. I blame scientific curiosity and all that 
Yeah, I don’t mean to offend any canooks here but please take back your stinking polar blast and give me back Indian Summer. I’m not ready for winter.
No one seems to mention that where most of us live use to be under a huge ice glacier. The earth has been warming a little at a time and the ice glaciers now are barley to the poles. TomC
Maybe I’m like a first grader but I believe scientist can only discover what God created.
This is all I will discuss on this topic. I don’t want to ruin my favorite thread.
Yes, Bill, before reading your post I was just thinking that “science” doesn’t know anything God didn’t know first.