Wild Cherry Trees-----Can wood be used for furniture construction?

[jim george]

Can the wood from wild cherry trees be used in furniture construction?

[Ga_Boy]

Hi Jim,


First let me welcome you to the FF.  I think you will like it here.  It is an easy going place where we end up talking about our favorite food.

Now to your question.  I will assume you are asking about Black Cherry, if my assumption is correct; Black Cherry is most desirable for furniture.

Last fall I did my bath in Cherry, it turned out fantistic.  Well if you like Cherry that is.




Mark

[Paschale]

Any pics, Mark?  I'd love to see it...just started tackling my own bathroom project, still making decisions on trim and what to slap up on the wall...maybe some wainscoating, or some subway tile.  Plus gotta build a cabinet, though mine will be from ash.

[Loghead]

Jim
In my gallery there is a couple of shots showing the black cherry floor I cut from my back yard for the loft floor it turned out great we love it  !!  8) 8)

[Ianab]

Hi Jim,

What people call 'wild' cherry seems to vary from region to region.

But it is commonly Prunus avium which is a European species that has naturalised to the States and other parts of the world. The wood is similar to Black cherry (Prunus serotina) but doesnt have the same rich red 'cherry' colour. It tends to be more of a brown tone. Apart from that the wood is very similar and could be used for the same uses, it just wont look exactly the same.

Cheers

Ian

[Ga_Boy]

Hi there Paschale,

I'll drag out the camera and snap a few pictures and get them up for you.

The greatest thing we did was add raident floor heat, now that is nice.  Everybody should have heated floors.

[SPIKER]

I am curious about which species of cherry is which, I have 3 or 4 different varieties as they have different bark on each,

Sooth bark, with smaller horz lines around/ringing trees,

rough scaly bark which peals up in 1~2" squares and a 3rd type which seems some place in between.  (pictures to follow if I remember the camera going to go tap a few maples Sunday)
here is pic


will have to FIND & POST pics of oter types.

markM

[beenthere]

Place something, like a pen, a person, or a ruler in the pics when you take them. Will help to know if this tree diam is 3", 12", or 36".  Looks like black cherry to me.

[Ga_Boy]

Spiker,

The picture with the rough scaly bark is a Black Cherry.  The smoth bark is a known as Choke Cherry as it produces a small bitter fruit.




Mark

[Furby]

The black cherry also has smooth bark on young trees.

[SPIKER]

I was thinking that that was black cherry, (I had it listed as such on the photo bucket site, here I didn't list it,)  it is actually about 14" dia tree right now. pic was taken last fall.   
the smooth bark one I believe was a sweet cherry (as it does not ave clusters of cherry's but slightly larger 1~2 fruits in a bunch and then several bunches on a twig, not on same stems)  but choke cherry might be right?   I'll take pics tomorrow if the trees are not washed away by rain snow ice and flooding.  PIC i'll take is of a tree ~20" DBH


mark M

[Brian Beauchamp]

I believe it is safe to say that it is most likely not a choke cherry if it is 20 inches in diameter. I'm leaning more toward the introduced Wild Cherry (P. avium). I'd still like to see these pics of it though!

[Phorester]

Bore into the trunk with a pocket knife, strip off some bark, or break a small twig on a suspected cherry tree.  Black cherry, Prunus serotina, will have a foul smell and a bitter taste.

[Tom]

The smell when sawing boards reminds me of Cyanide.

[SPIKER]

Oh yes cutting this stuff will burn you're eyes it is so strong!  smell that is  (I find it not all UN-PLESENT unless you really get you're nose down in there!   I took photos and will post them and add them into this post in a little bit.   they are on my system but have to downsize & upload them.  I post larger photos on Photo bucket site and as big as the forum alows for ID here. 

I took some TWIG photos of some maples too as these ones I have seem to fall into a different gen species not showing any particular strong lean to any one species.  twigs appear to be red but bark says sugar or silver...  ??? :

will add them shortly

mark M

[BBTom]

Spiker, if you want to stop by some day soon, I can show you lots of black cherry.  I have about 10,000 or so BDFT of it to saw up. 

I do have, if the water doesn't rise too high with this snow melt.  I won't have, if they all end up in Pleasant Hill Reservoir

[Tom]

BBtom,
That sounds like it would at least make some good Before and After pictures.  Are the logs down?  You need to get those rascals to a good landing or you might need the help of Fla._Deadheader, Swampy and RiverDiver to get'em out of there. :D

[SwampDonkey]

The smell when sawing boards reminds me of Cyanide.

Possibly an Almond smell Tom?

[SwampDonkey]

I don't want to detract from this thread.....but...Now that I have Tom's attention... ;D

Tom!

Have you seen the wood of a lime tree? Someone supposedly grew a lime tree near Saint John, here in NB, Zone 6a I think. He said the limes didn't get big, because of the short cool season. I looked at a board from this tree and it looks, feels and weighs like basswood to me. I was wondering if you had sawn some. You know, basswood flowers smell like lemon or orange flowers. I had some citrus trees in the house I grew back in the 80's, I know the smell. Anyway, basswood have a tiny citrus like seed pod as you know. I'm thinking this guy had basswood and some cornball told him he had a lime tree. Growing citrus in NB climate seems far fetched to me.  :

ok here's a link. This can't be citrus lime though. I don't see a latin name.

Lime Tree

well, dang dabbit!!!  I was right, seems it's a Linden type tree we have here.  :

http://ncrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/jrnl/2003/nc_2003_zasada_001.pdf

[BBTom]

Tom, 

They are all down and in the middle of a 60 acre field.  Most of them have been bucked, but not stocked yet.  Not really much chance of them going anywhere.  I will try to get a picture tomorrow.  Just missed the 10,000 BDFT of Cherry that was sent out today,  Will try to remember to get another pic before the next load.  I also have about that much hard Maple in that field.  Close to that much Ash and Poplar not far away. 

[SwampDonkey]

Native wild pin cherry (fire cherry) can be turned into boards as well and the wood is similar to black cherry, but brown, not pink. The lenticels, horizontal lines in the bark are always prominent throughout it's life. Also, some areas have cherry birch (black birch) that may be confused.

[SwampDonkey]

Tom, you notice I edited my original post back there 2  times (at least) as I solved the mystery.  ;D

[SPIKER]

seems like it took a while to get my pics loaded edited and sent into FF gallery  hee are some pics .

black cherry (different tree than the pic posted above as it has a flood between me & that particular tree today)


not sure if this is a sweet cherry or not but seems to have a bad bug infestation as does a lot of the other cherry's on my place >:(

same tree no hand ~16" DBH



Ok this one is just for fun, see if ya can guess without reading caption??




I SOOO wanted to put this picture in UPSIDE DOWN just for the fun of it  :D


mark M

[SwampDonkey]

First one is black cherry. The next two aren't native, too big for pin. The 4th one I've no clue....well I do after looking in the gallery, but I'm not familiar with bark of that species. The last one is shagbark isn't it?


Black cherry down your way has different bark than mine. Mine is more birch like, but your tree is probably much older than my orchard grown ones. I have seen older tree here further south that have same bark as yours. I'm on the fringe of it's range. 10 miles north of here there is none.

[Tom]

They are all down and in the middle of a 60 acre field.

What a historical shot that will make, especially if the reservoir later inundates the area.  :P

Swamp Donkey,
I see you did.  I would be a bit surprised if you found someone who claimed to be growing citrus outside up there.