rodger. Posted October 19, 2012 Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 I have never really been attracted to cherry as stock, but my wife's cousin (who cuts trees for a living) showed up the other day with about 40 bf of milled 4/4 cherry. I decided to build an occasional table from the stock, and I really like the way the hand tools worked it. It was a joy to hand plane, much like my favourite wood - walnut. After jointing and planing it to rough dimesnions, I left it to acclimatize for a few days. When I came back to re-mill the last bit to ensure straight/square stock, parts of the wood had dicoloured! I left some smaller pieces on top of some larger pieces, and the area underneath the overlapping pieces was greyish. Has anyone else experienced this? I should have snapped a photo, but missed my opportunity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barron Posted October 19, 2012 Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 Others will add to this, but I believe cherry 'sun burns' easily. If you sand or surface the top with a smoother, the spots will be gone. Leaving the piece in the sun might even things out as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted October 19, 2012 Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 Cherry darkens very quickly. And you gotta be really careful about choosing boards because the variation from board to board can be huge after only a few days, or even hours, in the sun. In my experience anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jHop Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 If you can, try to find the boards that came from the same portions of the tree when you start your projects. Even 20 feet up the tree the change in color can be different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 i have one board that turned a greyish color as well while the board next to it has a dark rich red dont realy know but honestly i realy like the fact that each board can be so much different. granted its a pain to build something like a big table but it can make a inturesting challenge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike M Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 Depending on how you look at it, the darkening of cherry is either a problem or a feature. Cherry is one of my favorite woods to work because it darkens. I don't use any stain and let nature take it course. At first, the wood looks a bit pale, but in a couple of months it gets a beautiful redish brown. A couple of days in the sun accelerates the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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