Alder

[Ray Newman]

Chance of acquiring some alder. Anyone ever utilize it? Supposedly it looks and works like cherry.

[J.R. Rutter]

I've worked many thousands of BF of alder and cherry over the years. Alder can look like cherry, depending on how it is finished. Like cherry, it is prone to blotchiness without solid prep work. Here are some other differences:

Alder is softer, so in high use areas, will show more dings and wear.
Alder is lighter, which can be a benefit in some situations. It is (or used to be) popular for upholstered furniture for example. I like it for large picture frames, too for this reason.
Alder is more prone to fuzzing with tooling that isn't very sharp. It's the canary in a coal mine for reality checking how sharp blades are. The wood fibers will crush instead of cut cleanly with chisels that aren't sharp, etc.
Alder has proprietary grades that sort of map over to other hardwoods. Superior = FAS, Cabinet = #1Common, for example.

Cherry has a solid reputation as a cabinet/furniture wood for a reason. Alder can be a good substitute for certain projects taking into account its properties.

[Jamie Buxton]

Clear alder is okay, but beware of knotty alder. The knots eat planer blades.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

J.R. and Jamie are right, plus I'd add that it's hard to get very big boards here length or width, however maybe not be the case everywhere. It goes in phases for us, but it's a popular one with the millwork customers so we use it often. Makes me look forward to the poplar jobs so I can use wider boards again.

[Jim Matthews]

Ed Santos made an eye popping desk from Alder.

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?288231-Bleached-Alder-desk-for-my-teenage-daughter&highlight=Alder+desk

[Andrew Hughes]

I like Alder is a easy wood to work and it doesn’t make me sneeze. North of me the stream beds have Alder trees that grow it’s a very peaceful place to visit.
Alder isn’t very expensive in my area so we used to call it poor mans Cherry.

[scott vroom]

The rustic look of knotty alder is popular in my area. It's easy to work and while the knots are brittle they machine nicely with spiral cutters. This was finished with Arm-R-Seal.

[Joe Calhoon]

K Alder has been popular here for many years also. It tears up HSS planer knives pretty quickly. Carbide is the way to go for milling. I think part of the reason is hard on knives I’d because most comes abrasive planed.

[Ray Newman]

Colleagues: thanks for the information. Waiting to hear more from the seller. Again, thanks.