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Thread: Cherry vs. Wild Cherry tree

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Midlands of South Carolina
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    390

    Question Cherry vs. Wild Cherry tree

    Are there any significant turning differences between "real" cherry wood, and what is called "wild" cherry in this area? I assume they are in the same family of tree, but the wild cherry does not smell like cherry and the fruit is small and bitter. The birds eat the fruit, so I guess they are not poisonous. I have turned some wild cherry, and it looks pretty good. Have not turned any real cherry, so can't compare.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Northern Colorado
    Posts
    556
    Actually, the wild cherry is the "Cherry" lumber you're used to working with. the Fruit cherry is not a wood you're likely to come across too often.

    I've not had a chance to work with any fruit cherry (the edible / store stuff), but the regular cherry / wild cherry is excellent

    mike

  3. #3
    Mike is correct, and "wild cherry" is what it is called here in KY as well. Black cherry, rum cherry, and choke cherry (erroneously) are other names used for this tree, and it is the source for cherry lumber commercially available.

    And, you are correct that the fruit is not poisonous, but bitter. Less so when it is black and ripe.

    I have never lumber or harvested wood of the orchard cherry tree, so cannot comment on it. From the limited size, I would think that turning stock might be the only justifiable use. I doubt it would yield much in the way of usable lumber.

  4. #4
    I've seen cherry with white sap wood and without it. Which is which? The stuff without the sapwood seems to get a much richer color over time.

  5. #5
    David, every cherry log has sapwood, and most people consider it a defect if it is in the milled lumber. It does not contain the same chemical makeup, and will not darken over time. It also tends to be softer, the cells are more moisture laden, and less fiber.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Portland, Oregon
    Posts
    49

    Orchard Cherry vs. Lumber Cherry

    I have turned a bit of cherry wood from orchard trees. The main difference that I have noticed is that the orchard wood does not darken as much as the cherry wood used for Lumber. The orchard stuff turns and smells wonderfully, it is tight grained and finishes up nicely. Seeing how the orchard wood has all been free, it is very good wood.

    This is a previous thread with a cherry bowl from an orchard.
    http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=115236

    Mike
    "The cup of life's for him that drinks, and not for him that sips" - Robert Louis Stevenson

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    South Central PA
    Posts
    305
    Rick:

    Interestingly enough, I just experienced the difference myself. Northeast Pennsylvania has vast stands of Black Cherry which is highly prized for furniture building, and a good bit of the harvested cherry timber is exported for furniture building.

    I've actually cut a good bit of this cherry over the years for, ...gulp , firewood at our cabin. Actually, mostly tops from logging or dead trees. It's very abundant and burns very well.

    The black cherry wood we have is generally straight and clear grain, tall timber long trunks; with a nice color and smell. Turns well and machines well for flat work. Mature trees have very rough, gray flakey bark. Orhcard-type cherry has mostly smoother bark with plenty of horizontal scars and relatively short trunks with plenty of limbs. Both woods seem to machine about the same to me.

    I just purcashed severl hundred board feet of air-dried rough cut sawmill "cherry" at a local auction that is definatley not black cherry, but appears to be some sort of "fruit" cherry. This wood has much more figure to the grain and a darker cherry color. The wood also contain allot of small pitch pockets. Plenty of charcter and not much straight grain. Unfortunately, I bought the wood for some flat projects I'm doing and they didn't have any turning blanks of this wood at the time.

    Terry


  8. #8
    I just happen to live in fruit cherry country. In fact, our town's annual summer celebration is called Cherry Days. What we don't have around here is the wild cherry that makes such beautiful furniture and is so nice work with. Fruit cherry would be difficult to make lumber from mostly because of the way the trees are pruned to increase the fruit yields. There's usually only a couple feet of trunk before it branches out and then branches out again. This year's fruit grows on last years new growth so they're constantly pruning to keep new growth.
    Fruit cherry is beautiful wood but like most all fruit woods it is very prone to cracking and takes a lot of pampering to get a piece that doesn't split. It darkens with time like wild cherry and has some awesome character, lots of beautiful knots, and is very nice wood to work with.

    Here are a couple examples of fruit cherry...
    http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...t=fruit+cherry

    http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...t=fruit+cherry
    Last edited by Curt Fuller; 10-19-2009 at 8:49 PM.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Eau claire, Wisconsin
    Posts
    3,084

    The ground that it comes from makes a difference

    Well here is what it is all about, the black cherry is the one that is cut for lumber as it gets the largest of the cherries around here in WI. We also have Pin cherry and Choke cherry trees that grow wild as well. They are much smaller with a large choke cherry being about 6" dia. I cut 4500 bd ft of cherry lumber for a guy with my Woodmizer and he had trees that were 20"-30" dia and were grown in a steep sided valley about 60 miles from my house to the south. It was grown in very rich soil and the color was much darker than the wood I get on my local plot which has much more sand and gets a bit less water than the other stuff. Also there are now a lot of second or third growth trees being harvested that grow faster and they have a different color too as they get planted in plantations and are cared for better than the old growth wild trees. So there are lots of variables in how the wood gets its color and smell. Alos kiln dried wood will be a different color than air dried lumber.

    Hope that gives you some more info,

    Jeff
    To turn or not to turn that is the question: ........Of course the answer is...........TURN ,TURN,TURN!!!!
    Anyone "Fool" can know, The important thing is to Understand................Albert Einstein
    To follow blindly, is to never become a leader............................................ .....Unknown

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    International Falls, MN
    Posts
    766
    All cherry trees come from the same genus not family. Family is one level up from genus.

    Cherry is in the genus prunus. prunus serotina is black cherry which is the biggest and used most for lumber. Sometimes called wild cherry. There is also a pin cherry Prunus pensylvanica. Eating cherries are cultivated highbyids breed for fruit production. This is the reason they have scientific names so regional names for the same tree are not confused. It is just like paper birch. in some areas it is white birch and in another area canoe birch. They are all the same species betula paperifera.

    I hope this clears up the cherry thing.

    Quinn

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