Quartersawn Cherry Experience?

[Adam Shapiro]

Does anyone have experience working with quartersawn cherry - how it finishes, ages, etc? I've never used it before, and I'm a bit concerned about how it ages.

I'm building a vanity cabinet and bought some quartersawn for the frame and door rails and stiles. I thought if I used it with curly cherry as the door panels the straight grain would give a nice subtle contrast with the curly. But now that I've jointed the faces, the quartersawn appears to have a lot of rays and visual depth, not the plain straight grain I'd thought. Plus, the curly cherry turns out to not be very curly, much more of a plain face grain. So, now I'm thinking I've got the plan backwards, perhaps the iridescence of the rays would be better for the panels with the not so curly flat sawn on the frame. Or just go buy more wood, which is always good with me, but might cause some issues with SWMBO. This bath remodel has been dragging on for far too long.

Any thoughts?

[Jeff Duncan]

The 'look' is very much personal preference so there's not necessarily a right or wrong here. My feeling is in general cherry is one of those woods that doesn't look all that great qtr sawn. I prefer a nice clean flat grain which to me looks perfect on it's own. I also am careful about where I put flame and other types of figure. When you start throwing it everywhere b/c it looks cool, (which happens a lot), it can easily look out of place. So whereas I might use some nice figured wood on a piece of furniture for the living space, I personally wouldn't go out in search of it for a bathroom cabinet.....but that's just me;) To each there own....so do what works for you!

good luck,
JeffD

[Robert LaPlaca]

The quarter sawn Cherry Stock I have gotten from my supplier has been pretty straight grained.. I fine its a nice contrast against the more figured stock used for the raised panels... kind of hard to tell if it darkens any less than the flatsawn stock.. An additional benefit is the quartered stock is supported to be more stable...

[Prashun Patel]

I made a bar out of edge-grain cherry, bowling alley style, which I believe mimics quartersawn. It's ok. It darkens just like flat sawn cherry.

However, qs's aesthetic appeal is getting all the prominent grain of something like ash or white oak to go in the same direction, and also ray flecking. The grain of cherry is more muted, so the effect is not so prominent, and is less prone to flecks. Instead, you get some pieces that have a (for lack of a better word) "pixelated" effect. I see this with the edges of maple as well. I don't like that effect. Others may. Personal taste.

[Jim Foster]

We have a kitchen made from Riftsawn/Quartersawn Cherry and after 12 yrs it's still stunning in my opinion

[Joe Cowan]

I have tried to use QS Cherry on my rails and stiles, just to try to lessen the chance of slight warpage in the doors. Looks good and helps some (maybe).