Bulldog Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 So, I've started a project making a chest to store my hand tools. I'm using cherry, for the case and possibly walnut for the panels and drawer fronts. I have been accumulating some cherry from various trips (I've only found one decent lumber yard within a 4.5 hour drive) and decided to use on this chest. It's not been the most expensive stuff, as it's been priced about $4 - $5 a bf in 4/4. I also grabbed some lumber from my uncle a few months back. He has stacks and stacks of walnut that he's been accumulating over 30 years or so. I took a swipe at one board with my block plane, and discovered that it was cherry and not walnut. I don't know how long ago it was cut, or if it was air dried or kiln dried. It had a pretty bad check in it, so I ripped a 3" piece off one side and got a 6" piece on the other side. The board was so dirty it was pretty much black, and I just set it off to the side. The top of the chest is frame and panel, and I needed some stock for the rails and stiles, and I remembered the 3" piece I had cut. I grabbed it, and ran it over the jointer..and I was amazed at the color and appearance. All th e cherry I've been working with, is nearly white after it get's milled. I know the board on the right in my picture is flat sawn, and the board from my uncle is quarter sawn, but wow. I decided it was too pretty to use on my chest. I'm rambling, but I still consider myself a newbie when it comes to woodworking, and wanted to share my observations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 Cherry does come on a wide variety of shades. I actually have my stock pre-sorted and marked with "Group A", "Group B", etc on the visible edge of the stock. The A, B and C's don't mean anything other than all B's have a similar shading; salmon pink, figured with gray, deeper red, etc.. This saves me time in sorting. Cherry darkens with time and light exposure and walnut lightens. Trying to match an additional board can be quite painful. As you point out, the appearance right after milling is far from what you will have in your hands next week. I do the same for walnut which has a range of shading that makes cherry all look alike. If I make a mistake on walnut stock quantity for a larger project that may take a few months to complete it is near terminal depression. It is sooooo hard to get another board to match the stock I am already working. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin-IT Posted January 10, 2017 Report Share Posted January 10, 2017 Right plank, seem to be mostly sap wood, being so light. The lightly colored cherry will not darken over time, like darker cherry will. It will get a shade yellow, but not the dark brown of cherry. Spalted cherry will have very dark color, compared to not spalted. I have built furniture with both air and kiln dried lumber, after a few years they darken the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phinds Posted January 10, 2017 Report Share Posted January 10, 2017 16 hours ago, Martin-IT said: Right plank, seem to be mostly sap wood, being so light. The lightly colored cherry will not darken over time, like darker cherry will. It will get a shade yellow, but not the dark brown of cherry. Spalted cherry will have very dark color, compared to not spalted. I have built furniture with both air and kiln dried lumber, after a few years they darken the same. I agree w/ all of that except about the spalted cherry. I don't think that's always true but I do agree that it happens at least some of the time and perhaps most of the time, just not all of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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