Cherry

[rvieceli]

Remember all those horrible things people say about cherry? This is why you should always ignore them.

[attachimg=1]

Ron

 

[dltflt]

That is beautiful. I love cherry.

 

[simnick]

I think people who dislike cherry just reflexively stain everything, and then get annoyed at cherry's blotchiness. If you let the wood speak, cherry is beautiful.

 

[guybo]

+1 on that

 

[FestitaMakool]

Cherry is fantastic in color and grain.
In my first flat back in 1994 I chose cherry flooring - being absolutely “bonkers” not to have oak or ash as most had.
I got so many positive comments on that floor, never have I had comments later..
When the sun and good lighting reached the floor it had such depth like I have never seen before. There were many other “dark” species to choose from, but none as alive as cherry.

I’d love to get my hands on some stock, but here it’s rare and very expensive.

 

[RJNeal]

I love cherry.
I’ll be starting a new project soon. The triplets. 3 cherry tables 42” by 84” for the meeting room at my old fire station.

 

[Ron B]

Cherry is fantastic in color and grain.

I’d love to get my hands on some stock, but here it’s rare and very expensive.

Cherry is expensive here in the States too, up there with walnut.  I had an horseman tell me once that wild cherry is poisonous to horses, and he was destroying any cherry tree on his property for that reason.  Another problem is that the logs are not always the straightest so not the easiest to get good boards out of.  If you stain it correctly (not the ugly dark stain that hides the beauty of the woodgrain) the wood grain of hard maple resembles the wild woodgrain of cherry. 

 

[Holzhacker]

Its unfortunate Cherry got such a bad rap during the last housing boom. Every developer was putting in cherry cabinets and stairs but staining the crap out of it. Just made that beautiful wood dark and expensive.
Sort of like what some developers are doing with Oak flooring these days. Nice blond/red Oak and they stain it with 2 coats of Ebony. Idiots.

 

[Kpp80202]

Like others here, I love the look of simple oiled cherry, especially after it gets a little suntan. Plus, I love how easy it is to machine. I'm finishing up a small desk using black walnut for the body and cherry for the drawer sides and back for some contrast.

 

[Birdhunter]

Our cabinets are cherry, but beautifully done. I recently turned a bowl out of locally sourced cherry. Turned out really nice. It’s an honest wood.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Cherry is fantastic in color and grain.

I’d love to get my hands on some stock, but here it’s rare and very expensive.

Cherry is expensive here in the States too, up there with walnut.  I had an horseman tell me once that wild cherry is poisonous to horses, and he was destroying any cherry tree on his property for that reason.  Another problem is that the logs are not always the straightest so not the easiest to get good boards out of.  If you stain it correctly (not the ugly dark stain that hides the beauty of the woodgrain) the wood grain of hard maple resembles the wild woodgrain of cherry.

I've never heard that about Cherry before? Walnut, yes, but not Cherry.

 

[Ron B]

I've never heard that about Cherry before? Walnut, yes, but not Cherry.

The guy that told me wild cherry was poisonous to horses was a Doctor, but not a Vet.  So I googled it and it said wilted cherry leaves have enough cyanide to kill a horse in minutes. (according to Mr. Google)  So if you have a storm and a branch is broken off and your horse nibbles on it....
I had a friend that fed some Japanese Yew trimmings to his cattle-he lost a few.
And you are right about walnut.  I had a walnut blow over and some of the branches were in my Koi pond.  Killed them all.  I  later learned that Native Americans would throw walnut branches into water and the toxicity would bring the fish to the surface for easy pickings. 

 

[jaguar36]

Like others here, I love the look of simple oiled cherry, especially after it gets a little suntan. Plus, I love how easy it is to machine. I'm finishing up a small desk using black walnut for the body and cherry for the drawer sides and back for some contrast.

Careful using walnut as a contrast with cherry.  After a few months the cherry will have darkened and the walnut will have lightened a bit and there won't be much contrast between them.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Yeah, that's the darndest thing. Walnut changes so much over time. It is lighter when first cut and darkens as it oxidizes for a few hours. If it is air-dried, there will be more contrast in the colors. Most of the stuff in the market has been steamed which mellows and evens out the color. Both seem to fad/lighten over time.

Purpleheart can do the same, but it seems to have more to do with exposure to direct sunlight?

Cherry darkens over time and this can be exaggerated by using a finish that darkens too.

 

[demographic]

Cherry is one of my facourute woods, can be a bit splitty but its one of the nicest colours and in my opinion doesn't need staining.