Know Your Wood: Black Cherry

Black Cherry

Augustine delivers a valuable lesson, perhaps more in myth than reality.

Common trade names: Black Cherry, Cherry, North American Cherry, Appalachian Cherry

Genus: Prunus serotina

Janka Hardness (pounds-force): 950

Description: Cherry is a very popular American hardwood, and one of my personal favorites. It sands to a very pale pink-brown hue, and finishes with a deeper blood-red and can darken more with the passage of time. Cherry is finely textured with typically tight grain patterns. Wood is generally very easy to work. Where there are irregularities in the grain pattern, as with many other woods, the specimen becomes relatively more difficult to work. Never in my life have I had issues with Cherry that merited any complaint.

Location: Eastern North America from Nova Scotia through Minnesota across the northern bound, south through Eastern Texas on the western range of distribution. It is also found in pockets throughout the southwestern U.S., Mexico, and Central America.

Common Aliases: American black cherry, cabinet cherry, Capollin, Capulin cherry, Chisos wild cherry, choke cherry, Detze, Mountain black cherry, Rum cherry, wild black cherry, wild cherry, Xeugua

A nice picture featuring the figure of Black Cherry, from The Wood Explorer.

Performance: Glues and finishes well, and is very easy to work with hand and machine tools. Cherry has a reputation of being one of the best woods widely available at affordable pricing. I’ve personally always seen great results from Black Cherry. Sands, and finishes quite well. I don’t know why anyone would ever want to stain Cherry, but this is one of the very few areas of difficulty the woodworker will experience with this species, as the stain can distribute unevenly due to pore tightness of the species. Weathers very well. Cherry has well above average resistance to insects. It’s cheap, it’s abundant, and it looks great. Black Cherry has occasional chatoyancy of surface, and is a truly remarkable wood in several facets of service.

Cherry blossoms are typically associated with trees of the genus Prunus, and in particular, Prunus serrulata. The trees seen in this shot of the tidal basin are descendant of a goodwill gift from Tokyo to the City of Washington in 1912. It is unclear if the Japanese government was unhappy with the presentation of these trees, or if a combination of various other circumstances led to an unfortunate series of events initiated in 1941 by Japan.

Common Uses: Fine furnishings, cabinetry, millwork, tables, chairs, veneers, handles, paneling, plywood, scientific and musical instruments, sculpture, toys, turnings, and many others requiring a beautiful solid domestic.

From: The Wood Database

Common Name(s): Black Cherry, Cherry, American Cherry
Scientific Name: Prunus serotina
Distribution: Eastern North America
Tree Size: 50-100 ft (15-30 m) tall, 3-5 ft (1-1.5 m) trunk diameter
Average Dried Weight: 37 lbs/ft3 (595 kg/m3)
Basic Specific Gravity: .47
Hardness: 950 lbf (4,230 N)
Rupture Strength: 12,300 lbf/in2 (84,800 kPa)
Elastic Strength: 1,490,000 lbf/in2 (10,300 MPa)
Crushing Strength: 7,110 lbf/in2 (49.0 MPa)
Shrinkage: Radial: 3.7%, Tangential: 7.1%, Volumetric: 11.5%, T/R Ratio: 1.9