Dark streaks in cherry

[Bill Jobe]

Is this type of coloration common with cherry?
I bought several feet of kiln dried 4x4 cherry and so far it has appeared with several but not all pieces I've turned.
Does it have a name?

I am really liking cherry for turning pieces. It finishes so well and looks great. Wish I'd bought more

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Is this type of coloration common with cherry?
I bought several feet of kiln dried 4x4 cherry and so far it has appeared with several but not all pieces I've turned.
Does it have a name?

I am really liking cherry for turning pieces. It finishes so well and looks great. Wish I'd bought more

Yes it happens more often, if you catch it in time the wood is still solid, but if will begone and totally soft and rotten pretty quick, it is called brown rot in Black Cherry.

I did make some pictures of this, where you can see the coloration and also how soft it will get, in the first 2 pictures you can see a spike I pushed in by hand with very little resistance.

picture 2 and 3 show the brown in the center that I did saw out, with some of the color still visible in the other 2 pieces.

If you ever see green/wet Black Cherry wood with the brown spots, you better take a good look up close, and poke it some to find out if it is still solid and not too far gone.

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[Stan Smith]

Yes it happens more often, if you catch it in time the wood is still solid, but if will begone and totally soft and rotten pretty quick, it is called brown rot in Black Cherry.

I did make some pictures of this, where you can see the coloration and also how soft it will get, in the first 2 pictures you can see a spike I pushed in by hand with very little resistance.

picture 2 and 3 show the brown in the center that I did saw out, with some of the color still visible in the other 2 pieces.

If you ever see green/wet Black Cherry wood with the brown spots, you better take a good look up close, and poke it some to find out if it is still solid and not too far gone.

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Thanks for the education, Leo. The cherry peppermils that I turned have darkend over time also. I like the richer darker color, too.

[Bill Jobe]

Will this piece remain as-is or will it continue to decompose? Also, I still have maybe 10 feet of it. It has been kiln dried. Will it stay solid or do I need to use it up fast and seal it?

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Will this piece remain as-is or will it continue to decompose? Also, I still have maybe 10 feet of it. It has been kiln dried. Will it stay solid or do I need to use it up fast and seal it?

The decomposing is done by fungus, and the fungus can’t live in dry wood, IIRC under18% moisture contend it will die, so don’t worry, just keep it out of the rain ;).

[William Bachtel]

Leo, both real good answers to his questions. The photos were great also.

[Barry McFadden]

I love the dark streaks in Black Cherry....have made many cutting boards from it. I used to have a source for Black Cherry boards that were 3" wide 1 1/4" thick and 3 feet long. I could get them for 25 cents each from a national cabinet manufacturer because they didn't want the boards that weren't all one color. Sadly, they moved their manufacturing to Mexico so I can't get any more. Still have about 100 left but once they are gone I'll miss those dark streaks!!

[Bill Jobe]

Thank you Leo. Sure glad I can use it. Cherry is fun to turn.
I, too, like the dark stripes. Being colorblind I just assumed it was a dark red.