Figured Cherry Question


Keggers

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I recently purchased several hundred bf of 4/4 kiln dried cherry. I've recently come across several boards with this type of "mottled" figure in the grain. It's beautiful wood but I don't know what the proper name for the figure would be. I can't call it curly but I'm at a loss as to what it's actually called. Hopefully someone will know.

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I call it "blistered" but that's totally unofficial.  I don't think there's really a name for it since it's not really figure, but more like exactly what you said...just mottled grain.  It's not all that appealing to me personally but to each his own.  Finding true figure like curl in cherry is very uncommon.  It's awesome when you find it though.

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Absolutely.  All those "blisters" will soon be "blotch."  Which may or may not bother you.  I like the earthy goodness that comes out of clean cherry when you hit it with straight oil...some blotch here and there but it lets you know it's real wood.  But those "blistered" boards just look like a mess...I would use a sealer for sure.

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from my experience with cutting lumber from cherry logs and using a fair amount of it i would say that what you are showing us is a tree that had some pitch pockets wanting to develop but hadnt like normal streaks. i know of one tree in particular i had sawed up into boards that weeped pitch threw the bark in many areas and when cut had major streaks in it..

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==>Absolutely.  All those "blisters" will soon be "blotch."  Which may or may not bother you

Figures... Yea, would bother me...

Spent a long time learning to finish Cherry and avoid blotch... Actually, it was the entire reason I got spray gear... I guess I've been lucky to avoid blistered stock...

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40 minutes ago, estesbubba said:

I think those blisters would look good on something smaller like a box top. Have you tried wiping with mineral spirits to get a preview?

No I haven't, but I do plan to do a little test by taking a board and using Charles Neal's blotch control on a portion of it and nothing but a clear finish on the other portion. I'll post my results when finished. I'm really curious as to how much difference the blotch control will have on boards like these.

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