Comments on wood wanted

[Dale Allen]

I recently picked up some rough lumber that was sold to me as cherry.
I have bought small turning stock in the past and once bought a piece of 4/4 from Hartville Lumber. Those are a fairly even and consistent medium brown color with very little figure.
Below is a picture of some resawn 6/4. Don't get me wrong here, I like what I am seeing.
But is this really cherry wood?

These sections are destined to be the end panels on a medium size dresser

 

[RKB]

That looks like some really nice Cherry wood you got there.:biggrin: Good job resawing.

Rod

 

[1080Wayne]

I think you got lucky !

 

[Sprung]

Yes - definitely Cherry and very nice! What you're seeing is gum lines in the cherry - gummy cherry, is what it would be referred to as.

 

[The Penguin]

I've also heard them referred to as "pitch pockets"

not ideal to have for fine furniture as it considered to be a defect.

but I think it looks good...so I guess I'm defective.

 

[Mack C.]

I've also heard them referred to as "pitch pockets"

not ideal to have for fine furniture as it considered to be a defect.

but I think it looks good...

so I guess I'm defective.

I think of you more as a defective detective!

 

[jttheclockman]

That is absolutely cherry.

 

[GaryMGg]

Yep; black cherry with pitch pockets.
When nature darkens the pink areas, it'll look really cool.
You may want to stabilize the knots in the right most piece--it looks like trouble.

 

[Dale Allen]

Thanks all for the info. This is a new experience for me as I have never had the pleasure of working with this kind of cherry before.
Gary, the knots will not be used as it only takes a little more than 2 board widths to make up the panels I need.
Hopefully the rest of that board has figure like this too.

 

[Skie_M]

Hey .... you may wanna cut some of that stuff a might thicker and cut it up for pen blanks!

 

[Dale Allen]

Here's a piece of a walnut board I also got.
Looks like I should go get more of this!

 

[stonepecker]

Your Info doesn't say where you are at Dale. Otherwise I would bet there would be others waiting in line for some of that wood.

Great find.

 

[greggas]

That is absolutely cherry

 

[GaryMGg]

Hi Dale
Glad for you not having to use the knotty portion.
This is getting a bit ahead of things but--Something to keep in mind:
Cherry can be blotchy when finished; one good way to prevent blotches is to use a dewaxed shellac seal coat under the final finish.
However, always test the finish on project scraps.
Keep us updated--build-along threads are fun.

 

[Dale Allen]

Hey .... you may wanna cut some of that stuff a might thicker and cut it up for pen blanks!

Well OK....how!
I cut this piece off the end. I knew this knot would be mostly a waste so I planed it down to see what the grain looked like.
How should I cut this to get the best figure from the gummy grain? Red line? Or blue or green? Or some other way?

 

[1080Wayne]

No way of knowing the best . I would just go with the blue , which will give you the most blanks .

 

[Skie_M]

If you've got a way to stabilize your blanks, I'ld say combine blue with straight grain and some diagonal and see what all comes out when you turn them round.


If you don't have a proper stabilization bucket, you could go ahead and soak the crosscut blanks in thin CA and turn with light cuts, applying more thin CA to soak into cracks and stabilize as you go.


Also ... don't be afraid of that knot. The areas around knots are some of the most highly figured and quite often beautiful wood in the tree... like burl.


That piece of knotty walnut .... try intentionally getting a few blanks with the knots dead center in the blank. You'll be pleased how those turn out!

 

[GaryMGg]

On the cherry offcut, I expect the cut will change as you move through the board.
The red line looks good at that location. As you move left to right based on the pic, you might shift more to a pure crosscut. Much of the right side may become fairly plain and could be useful for segmenting.

 

[Jgrden]

Here's a piece of a walnut board I also got.
Looks like I should go get more of this!

Boootiful !!!