What Kind of Cherry is this?

[Eric Jacobson]

A guy I work with gave me some logs from a Cherry tree he cut down from his yard. Is this what Cherry typically looks like? Can anyone tell me the species based on these pictures?

[Tad Capar]

It certainly looks like a Wild Cherry to me.

[Mike Stull]

I've turned a boatload of cherry. I would recommend turning the pith out. It's photosensitive so it will get quite a bit darker with age. That looks like an ornamental variety.

[George Guadiane]

It looks like you have some decay - cherry doesn't seem to spalt, ut if you catch it early enough the decay is stable and looks like rust. If the rust is grainy, you can stiffen it up a LOT by flooding it with CA glue and letting it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Some of the other stuff looks like "gum" pockets. I think of them as a nice feature. Some of that might also be early growth burl.

Nice looking bowls!

[John Keeton]

Eric, are you "drying" them on your grill??:D I haven't worked with a lot of cherry, but it certainly doesn't look a lot like wild cherry to me. But, the inclusions could be some form of blight, too.

In any event, nice bowls!! They will darken nicely, and the forms look good.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice looking bowls. It doesn't seem like wild cherry to me. I had the neighbor that lost his cherry tree that he had gotten from one of the seed catalogs many years ago. Anyway we don't know if a freeze killed it or some type of disease got it. Anyway the wood looks just like yours and had some gum pockets. Pretty wood and will darken with age.

[Travis R. Nelson]

I agree, looks to be a some type of Cherry. Good score there, and a nice job on the turnery.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Nice work Eric, yes you have Cherry with some brown rot in it, still in the early stage and it will stop when the wood dries, soft spots you can solidify if needed,
Could be Black Cherry , but hard to tell, and it doesn't really matter, they all will darken up with exposure to sunlight ;-))

[Donny Lawson]

Nice bowls. I think it's wild cherry myself.My 2 cents worth.
Donny

[kenneth walker]

Are the bowls wet or dry wood?

[Lance kanaby]

I believe what you have there is called pin cherry.

[Jeff Nicol]

It is most likely black cherry that has a lot of pitch or sap pockets in it. Some trees depending on the soil it is growing in and the amount of moisture it recieves it will get the sap pockets in it. Not sure if it is pin cherry looks to large for that. I did a sawing job for a guy all black cherry, with my woodmizer and he had a few trees that were full of the sap pockets, which sometimes create "Shakes" in the tree and may split apart. The guy had us saw for 2 weekends and he ended up with about 4500 bd of lumber with some of the boards being 15" across 8' long and not one blemish in them. I asked what he planned to do with it and he said sticker it and let it dry in the shed until his grandkids were old enough to use it, it is probably in the shed still and that was over 10 years ago!

Have fun,

Jeff

[David E Keller]

Where is that shed exactly:cool:, hmmmmm?

[Reed Gray]

From the size of the growth rings, which look pretty big to me, I would guess it is one of the flowering/ornamental cherry trees. Usually heavily watered and fertilized, so they grow faster than other trees.

robo hippy

[Mike Stull]

I turned some weeping cherry that was very similar to that, and yes it was spalted.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Cherry doesn't spalt, it will get Brown Rot and that looks quite different from pitch also, I do have a couple pictures here that show a Black Cherry bowl with a lot of pitch in it, compare the look and the color and thickness and width of these spots in both and you will note the difference, the pitch is more like a line, while the Brown rot is more spreading and gets thicker as it grows and then one picture of a Black Cherry crotch bowl, it still has some Brown Rot showing as I couldn't get rid of it all, note the color of that Brown Rot
There's probably also some pitch in those bowls but most of what's showing is brown rot.




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[Jeff Nicol]

Leo, Not all pitch is created equal, and not every tree is the same in all locations. This is the exact reason I don't give my 2 cents any more on wood ID's. There is always someone who knows best. Your bowl just has no sapwood on it but in all other aspects looks like the identical wood to me. I guess my 48 year old eyes must be getting bad after over 35 years of working with wood. I could go out and find 10 different cherry bowls with 10 different amounts of sap pockets and lines in them to proove the point but what is the use, you are the "One way WIzard" I do have some spalted cherry also by the way.

Last time for wood ID I promise this time!!!

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Cherry doesn't spalt, it will get Brown Rot and that looks quite different from pitch also, I do have a couple pictures here that show a Black Cherry bowl with a lot of pitch in it, compare the look and the color and thickness and width of these spots in both and you will note the difference, the pitch is more like a line, while the Brown rot is more spreading and gets thicker as it grows and then one picture of a Black Cherry crotch bowl, it still has some Brown Rot showing as I couldn't get rid of it all, note the color of that Brown Rot
There's probably also some pitch in those bowls but most of what's showing is brown rot.




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Just to add to this previous post, the reason you don't see spalting in Redwood and Cedar and Osage and Cherry, is that these woods have build up a natural resistance to the white fungus that decays the wood and cause the spalting lines, it why some people are using 100 year old and older wood from underground that has not rotted away, or that a Osage post will outlast 2 post holes:D

as you read the info on the DNR in the link below it will tell you that spalting occurs in many species that are NON RESISTANt TO DECAY.

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/tabid/5255/Default.aspx

Andrew Hilton also will tell you the common species that spalt, but isn't too specific of all species, he does spalting commercially.

http://www.hiltonhandcraft.com/Articles/Spalting_a_Fungus_Amongus.asp