Is quarter sawn cherry worth the extra $4/bf?

[Roger Feeley]

I’m used to quarter sawn oak but it never occurred to me that qs cherry is a thing. Here in northern va, plainsawn cherry is $8 and qs is $13.

I’m making a sort of picture frame fo my 3yo grandson.. The frame will be in the shape of an airplane. The profile is nothing special. It’ll be about 1.25 thick x 1.75 wide. I’ll round it over a bit but generally the profile will be a rectangle. The plane is about 3’ long x 2’ high. We will fill the interior with little die cast airplanes.

edit, the way I do the odd shape is to build it up out of many small pieces. Sort of like a segmented turning.

I did something similar with a car shape for the older grandson a couple of years ago. I had a nice maple frame built and then his mother said she wanted cherry. I sorta stained the maple a cherry color but I didn’t like it.

anyway, I have moms agreement to cherry and I thought it was all decided until I ran across the QS option.

thoughts?

[Jerry Bruette]

You think Mom would agree to Alder? Looks like cherry when finished with wipe on poly and might be cheaper.

[Prashun Patel]

QS cherry is not as popular, but has its place. It's more stable so for things like legs or thin things requiring some strength, I'd consider it. It can have a pixelated appearance like QS maple or sycamore and lacks the drama of QS oak. This is to say, not everyone likes the look.

I think it comes down to an aesthetic choice in your application. But for my money, on a small thing, like picture frame - especially if it's segmented, you could buy 8/4 or 4/4 flat sawn and make your own QS if you really wanted it. In fact, the edges of a wider 4/4 piece adjacent to the sap wood will already be qs.

[roger wiegand]

For a $4/bf difference I'd go somewhere where you can pick through the stack and grab the QS boards that are in there randomly. I work with cherry a lot, and it never occurred to me to think about the QS boards as something special, just one of the grain patterns to think about when laying out a piece. I don't see a striking difference like you get with the ray flecks in white oak.

[glenn bradley]

Roger’s got my vote. Probably a third of the figured Lumber in my figured section was not purchased as figured Lumber. Just Lucky finds I noticed when loading the cart. I know I will separate this out back at the shop so I add another piece of stock to take its place for my current project.

[John TenEyck]

Good grief the lumber prices where you are are nuts! That's more than 2X what cherry costs where I am in WNY. What's the price of walnut down there? Personally, I prefer plain sawn cherry and walnut over QS.

John

[Mike Henderson]

When I go through the cherry pile at Austin Hardwood, I look for figured wood. The professionals don't want it - first, they want all the wood to look the same, and second, the really figured stuff tends to chip out if you're not careful working it.

So I can occasionally find some really nice stuff.

Mike

[Bill Bukovec]

In northeast Tennessee cherry is $1.80. Curly cherry is $4.00. Not sure what curly cherry looks like, but it sounds nice. These prices are for kiln dried.

[Frank Pratt]

You guys are killin' me with your lumber prices. Around here, cherry is $7 (for 4/4 shorts) - $15/BF, depending on thickness, width & length. Not quarter sawn.

[Mark Bolton]

Prices are irrelevant without grade. 1 common? Fas? Rough? #2 common?

[Andrew Seemann]

I wouldn't pay extra for QS cherry, unless I had a really specific need for it. Cherry tends to be pretty stable in service, so I wouldn't be too worried about quartered vs flat sawn, and I'd say flat sawn probably has nicer figure.

Cherry here is about the same as white oak, and hard & soft maple. More than red oak, but less than clear white pine or walnut. It might be $11 a board foot for 8/4 at Rockler/Woodcraft. Wholesale tends to be around $4 for S&B KD 4/4 rough 90/80.

[Patrick Kane]

Agree with mark on grade, but I assume we are talking FAS at those prices. $8 for cherry is crazy town on anything other than 12/4 or figured material. I think select and better plain sawn cherry for me is $3.25-3.50, the last I checked.

As for quartersawn, I personally wouldn’t pay a 50% premium. I understand it though,as is a huge PITA for the sawyer. I do much prefer quarter or rift for the straight grain.

[Curt Harms]

You think Mom would agree to Alder? Looks like cherry when finished with wipe on poly and might be cheaper.

On the East Coast you might be surprised. I was looking for Alder to match existing and I could find #1 common cherry cheaper. I'm in Pennsylvania so that helps re cherry availability. YMMV of course.

[Jon Endres]

I've separated out QS cherry for years, I use it for face frames for cabinets. Cherry here in VT is from $3 - $6 per BF based on quality.

[Roger Feeley]

Good grief the lumber prices where you are are nuts! That's more than 2X what cherry costs where I am in WNY. What's the price of walnut down there? Personally, I prefer plain sawn cherry and walnut over QS.

John

I moved from Kansas to Falls Church, VA about 5 years ago. Everything is expensive here. I’m using Colonial Hardwoods. I know I’m paying a premium but they carry a lot of varieties, they are local and they are really nice.

Walnut is $8/bf.

Back in Kansas, there was a little family run sawmill where I could get oak for $4/bf. Less if I would take quarter sawn. It seems that most of their big customers were cabinet makers and their customers wanted that cathedral grain pattern on their cabinet doors. So I took one for the team and helped them get rid of that darn QS wood.

There’s someone here from Topeka. Look for a place in Osage, KS.

[Ron Citerone]

For a picture frame or small boxes, I would buy the wood you want since the quantity is so little.

As an aside, when I bought my first hardwoods (40 years ago) cherry was only slightly cheaper than walnut. Both red and white oak were way cheaper. Here in PA now, cherry has become cheaper than the oaks. Not sure why actually.

[Jim Becker]

I'm always willing to pay more for QS and rift when it's the right look for my project. But as has been noted, the local marketplace has a big impact on material cost for various species. So I can't say if a $4 premium is appropriate or worth it. My local "candy store" that I get the special stuff from (Hearne) has a range of $3.50-4.50 upcharge for rift/QS on cherry right now, depending on thickness. And that's for rough.

[Stephen L King]

If you are thinking of Friedens Hardwoods, they are actually in Franklin county just outside of Pomona. They are about 20 minutes from me.

[Brian Tymchak]

QS cherry, maple, etc, is a funny thing in that any angled cut in the face of QS will give you distorted grain, leaving an uneven look across the board. The cells look stretched out. If you plan on adding a profile on the frame, it may not appeal to you. I think curly cherry would look fantastic in a frame, and should keep a consistent figure if you add a profile.

[Roger Feeley]

Thanks all,
I went for the plain sawn stuff.

[Rich Aldrich]

I think your case is different than this but...This is a different take on frames - from a few "professional" artists.

My middle daughter is a decent artist. She had some of her work from High School art class put in a nearby gallery. One piece was chosen to go to Washington DC in the Rotundra for our House of Representative district. I made the frames out of some nice oak. The people at the art gallery told me to paint the frame black before it was sent to Washington. The artist doesn't want attention on the frame, just the art work.

Since then, I always paint the frames to make sure the artwork stands out.

[Roger Feeley]

I think your case is different than this but...This is a different take on frames - from a few "professional" artists.

My middle daughter is a decent artist. She had some of her work from High School art class put in a nearby gallery. One piece was chosen to go to Washington DC in the Rotundra for our House of Representative district. I made the frames out of some nice oak. The people at the art gallery told me to paint the frame black before it was sent to Washington. The artist doesn't want attention on the frame, just the art work.

Since then, I always paint the frames to make sure the artwork stands out.

Rich, you won’t get any argument from me. My intent with the previous frame was to make it from maple and paint it. But my daughter is the customer and it is her call.

[Alex Zeller]

I think your case is different than this but...This is a different take on frames - from a few "professional" artists.

My middle daughter is a decent artist. She had some of her work from High School art class put in a nearby gallery. One piece was chosen to go to Washington DC in the Rotundra for our House of Representative district. I made the frames out of some nice oak. The people at the art gallery told me to paint the frame black before it was sent to Washington. The artist doesn't want attention on the frame, just the art work.

Since then, I always paint the frames to make sure the artwork stands out.

Which is kind of funny since most frame shops have a wide selection of frame materials designed to impress the buyer.

[Mel Fulks]

Rich, red oak is associated with 19th century stuff. That's when poor people ....started buying stuff. Modern artists don't
want to be associated with poor people. Early factory made walnut stuff is also looked down on ...and often having hideous
design doesn't help. Many modern artists will use gold leaf or silver leaf frames or painted frames. Few will use red oak.