I would never cut a 200 year old tree down to make bowls, period. A local college hired my friend, who owns a tree service, to cut down a cherry tree that was in the way of a new building. My friend brought the log straight to me that day. I have never seen a wild cherry log that big. I had to Google it to prove to myself that wild cherry trees can get that big and live for 200 years. I counted the rings but the diameter of the log was enough to confirm that it was a very old tree.
Because the log was so big, I sawed it on the sawmill first. I made four 6" slabs out of the middle and sawed the rest 8/4 (2" thick) and 4/4 (1" thick). The thick slabs became salad bowls like the one below:
The thinner slabs became bowls like this one:
And the 8/4 slabs into shallow bowls like this one that is still on the lathe still on the lathe this morning:
So while I'm sad that this cherry tree was cut down, I'm very happy that the log was brought to me. When it's all said and done, I will have made over a hundred bowls, platters, dishes, vases and wine stoppers out of this fantastic log. I hope I've done it justice because if you live to be 200 years old, you deserve to be treated with respect. I hope the pieces I've made will give this tree another 200 years or so to be appreciated.