Exotic Wood cherry

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CHERRY

Prunus spp.

my samples --- colors are accurate throughout, both planks and veneer

two contiguous edges of a small plank of American black cherry

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece direcly above

two contiguous edges of a small plank of American black cherry

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

two contiguous edges of a small plank of American black cherry

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece direcly above

both sides of a plank of American black cherry that has some rot/spalting (I'm not SURE it's spalting, but I AM sure it is rot --- the lightest colored areas are already punky)

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece direcly above

American black cherry plank contributed to the site by John Saxon of the Cedar Store, whom I thank for both this and for the excellent quality red aromatic cedar which he has sold me. This piece is planed but unsanded and has obtained a mild patina and as you can see it shows a weak broad curly or mottled figure (it's a little hard to decide what to call it sometimes with cherry).

a sanded section and end grain from the larger plank directly above. Notice how the color has changed quite a bit due to my having sanded off the patina, and the mottled figure has almost disappeared

end grain closeup of the piece directly above --- clearly shows the rays, perpendicular to the grain, that allow cherry to show ray flakes if quartersawn (not all quartersawn cherry will show ray flakes). In fact, the edge opposite the one you can see a little of in the end grain shot, had a very nice flake figure.

two sections of a very nice American black cherry plank that just came out of the surface planer --- the focus on these pictures was very good so I've left both levels of enlargement

American black cherry turning stick and end grain; this piece is freshly cut and sanded

American black cherry plank and end grain; this piece is at least 10 years old and shows the excellent effect age has on cherry.

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

sample plank and end grain of American black cherry --- note the ray flakes on the side grain

end grain closeup of the piece directly above, clearly showing the rays that cause the ray flakes

a set of American black cherry slats. the top one shows some nice curly figure

American black cherry pen blank donated by Jim Glynn (thanks Jim)

one side and a closeup of a plank of American black cherry

the other side and closeup of the same plank as above --- this side shows a lot of sapwood

one side and a closeup of a plank of American black cherry

planks, and a closeup of the middle one, cut from a downed European black cherry tree that turned out to be spalted. Enlargements show the spalting much better. Image submitted by Gert Breugelmans whom I thank. Gert tells me that this is Prunus serotina (the same as American black cherry).

sample plank and end grain of Carolina laurel cherry

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

bitter cherry sample plank and end grain

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

two pics of American black cherry veneer; the first (two pieces) is flat cut and the second is either rift cut or quartersawn and shows some of the tiny ray flakes that you sometimes see in cherry

quartersawn American black cherry veneer with very nice light salmon color, accurately shown

quartersawn thick American black cherry veneer (1/12th inch thick) with both heartwood and sapwood. The salmon color is more subdued and there is a more pronounced brown in this than in the sample above it, showing some of the range of color you can expect in cherry.

This is an American black cherry veneer piece, and I believe it is rotary cut but I found it in a 12-year old bundle in the garage and can't remember how it was described when I bought it. The color in the pic is just a hair richer than the actual piece. The richness of the color is at least partially due to the age of the wood. Cherry ages beautifully.

two pieces of thick (1/12th inch) American black cherry veneer. The piece on the left is heartwood in the middle, merging to sapwood and the piece on the right is all sapwood.

figured cherry veneer --- I had to do color correction on this pic and the result is a little too red, although not by much. I believe this is American black cherry but I don't know that for sure.

curly American black cherry veneer --- although the curl in cherry is never as pronounced as in some woods, it can be a little stronger than what is shown here. These pieces are, however, fairly typical of what you normally see in curly cherry.

curly American black cherry veneer with a fairly pronounced curl (for cherry)

what I thought was spalted veneer --- one of my correspondants has suggested, and I am now positive that he is correct, that this is not spalting at all but rather just a bunch of gum inclusions.

spalted plank (both sides) --- pics donated by John Brunelle (thank you John) who shares my belief that spalting is fairly rare in cherry. As you can see, the spalting in this plank has resulted in more of a rotten look than the kind of ink-pen lines that you see in, for example, spalted maple. I don't know what subspecies of cherry this is.

spalted plank and two closeups; moistened for the pics. Like my own experience, and that shown in other "spalted" pics on this page, this exhibits more of a rotten look than the thin black lines one normally associates with "spalting"

sapwood veneer --- I'm pretty sure this is American black cherry.

numerous pieces of veneer chosen for grain and color variations --- color correction was used and the colors are accurate except for the 4th pic and the last one (the 2nd quartersawn) which each have just a touch too much red. Note the significant degree to which the amount of reflection from the flashbulb varies from piece to piece. The ones with the most reflection tend to have a hard shiny surface and the ones with little reflection are more grainy. These were all taken under the same lighting.

misc American black cherry veneer pieces

flat cut American black cherry veneer pieces

quartersawn American black cherry veneer

a piece of veneer that spent some time on my mystery wood page before Brian Harrington pointed out to me that it is obviously cherry, with which I had to agree. Don't know why I didn't see that myself.

quartersawn flaky American black cherry veneer --- the first pic has a little too much red. The middle pic shows what can be considered heavy ray flakes for cherry, so I've left in both levels of enlargment. The others are more typical of ray flakes in cherry.

flaky American black cherry veneer and closeup

flaky American black cherry veneer and closeup --- the closeup has too much red

flaky cherry veneer sent to me by Steve Marshburn who was understandably confused about whether or not this even IS cherry, given that it has a strong flake pattern that is more like oak than cherry and in fact is unlike any other cherry flake either of us have ever seen before. The flake pattern is even stronger in the wood than it shows up here in these pics. Not sure what subspecies of cherry this is, but Steve sells American black, so that's probably what it is.

mottled American black cherry veneer. Mottled figure is fairly rare in cherry and the mottle is quite weak. I've never seen it get much stronger than what is shown here, although I must say that the mottle figure shows up a little better in the wood that it does in the pics. The first piece in particular has what, for cherry, could be considered a strong mottle. As you can see, the mottle can occur in both quartersawn and flat cut.

larger mottled veneer sheets (American black cherry)

American black cherry veneer mix showing some of the range of color you can expect in cherry --- both levels of enlargement are present for this pic so you can check out the variety up close.

these are all thick burl veneer pieces that I got in a mixed lot from a jewlery box maker who makes his own veneer from burls and spalted woods. I believe these to be American black cherry but do not know that for sure.

quartersawn figured African cherry veneer --- the mottle figure is weak but it is actually somewhat stronger than what shows up in these pics. NOTE: THESE ARE MAKORE, NOT CHERRY. THE NAME "AFRICAN CHERRY" IS A COMMON NAME FOR MAKORE --- I'LL MOVE THESE TO MAKORE SOME DAY.

web pics

black cherry slab

black cherry slabs

black cherry figured plank

flat cut plank with wet and dry sections

flat cut planks

quartersawn planks

end grain from a plank

turning stock

figured

figured veneer

listed as "American" cherry but really that's just (in America at least) another name for black cherry. You will also sometimes see it as "American black cherry"

black cherry planks

black cherry veneer

black cherry flat cut veneer

black cherry quartersawn veneer

veneer

veneer, all from the same vendor --- none of this was listed as curly, but some of it clearly IS curly

figured veneer

veneer with a purple color that is just silly. I bought a lot from the vendor who puts up this picture and the color was normal cherry --- nothing like this pic; it's this kind of carelessness that got me started on this site in the first place.

pomelle figure veneer

ropey veneer

a flat sawn plank and two pieces of flat sawn veneer. In the middle pic, the flat sawn piece has some curly figure

a curly piece, a set of planks, and a flat cut piece with high color (believable, but may have a finishing agent that improves the color)

curly cherry from a vendor known to exaggerate color pretty seriously

two planks, quartersawn then flat cut

black cherry thins

cherry pen blanks --- I find the yellow color highly unlikely

black cherry crotch turning sticks

crotch veneer

Asian cherry veneer

Asian curly cherry veneer closeup with enlargements

European cherry planks

European cherry veneer

European cherry veneer closeup with enlargements --- just FYI, I've seen American black cherry that looks exactly like this

Argentine cherry plank and closeup

listed as Peruvian cherry, but I don't know if that's a true cherry or just a common name for something unrelated to cherry

the color on all these guitar kit pieces seems overly rich, but I cannot say for sure that it is false even though it is definitely outside my experience.

thin curly cherry (listed as quilted) laid out for a guitar kit

thin curly cherry (listed as quilted) laid out for a guitar kit, and a close up of one of the back pieces after it was moistened

quilted; two views of the same plank

quartersawn; the first two are planks, the last three are veneer

quartersawn figured veneer

figured flat cut veneer

flat cut quilted veneer

bird's eye veneer --- cherry has a weak bird's eye figure compared to maple.

cat's paw veneer --- click to enlarge and you will see little patterns that look somewhat like a cat's paw; the first sample shows it best (when fully enlarged)

ropey plank

curly planks

figured plank and closeup --- I'm doubtful about the color but can't say for sure that it's false.

figured planks --- figuring (usuallyl curl, but sometime mottle) in cherry is far less pronounced than in many species

curly cherry veneer in a 4-way bookmatch --- the grain is much clearer in the enlargement.

quartersawn curly planks

curly veneer

figured veneer

fireland cherry veneer

figured African cherry veneer

mottled african cherry veneer

all listed as "figured" African cherry veneer --- clearly the first two are mottled and the last one is curly (or fiddleback). The third one could be either razor mottle or curly --- I can't tell from the pic ... NOTE: THESE ARE MAKORE, NOT CHERRY. THE NAME "AFRICAN CHERRY" IS A COMMON NAME FOR MAKORE --- I'LL MOVE THESE TO MAKORE SOME DAY.

burl and closeup

bowl blank and bowl (the bowl has obviously been treated with a finishing agent of some kind)

elegant goblet turned by Al Amstutz

a cherry bed headboard made by a friend --- has excellent cathedral grain pieces arranged very pleasingly.

a black cherry dried-flower holder with natural bark inclusions. I found this piece of wood at a campground and was going to use it as firewood but as I examined the swirly indented areas I decided I'd try to use it in a project. This is the result and while hardly an outstanding example of wood craft, it does make a nice "natural" dried flower holder. The finish is polyurethane.

side and back shots of the same object