Natural Edge Chokecherry

[Paul Heely]

A friend of our had a large Chokecherry tree taken down a couple of months ago. This is from one of the smaller pieces I was able to cart away. This is a gift to give back to them as thanks for the wood.

Size: 7" x 2-1/2"
Finish: Watco natural and beall buffed

Comments and criticism always welcome.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Looks good Paul! Beautiful color variations on this one as well, nice bark, form and finish! Nice work!

[Jon Lanier]

That is really nice. For me, that skill to get that thin is impressive. I got a question though... what is "Choke" cherry?

[Paul Heely]

That should be Chokecherry. Not Choke Cherry. Its a smaller version of a Black Cherry tree, which I also have some of. Both have very annoying little dark berries that stain the driveway something fierce, that's why I also have some Black Cherry :)

[Anchor Sarslow]

Love the piece.. wish I were skilled enough to do that stuff.. Time will tell..

As to Chokecherry, if you ever ate one you would understand. Very dry felling in the throat. make you gag a bit.. takes 3x the sugar to make it sweet enough even for a good jam.. At least that was my experience.. I have Black cherry and choke and one other in my back yard..

Anchor

[Bernie Weishapl]

Paul the is a great looking piece. Wood has some great color. Well done.

[Ben Gastfriend]

Another beauty, Paul. Must have been turning lots of air, but you managed to keep the bark on! Good job!

[Dan Forman]

Thats really gorgeous, your friend ought to be thrilled.

Dan

[robert hainstock]

Chokecherry grows in poor soil, and remains relativly small in this part of the world. It is a sort of "weed" tree like Jack pine. I have jack pine in my back yd., and choke cherry across the street. I have lived in this house since 1991, and that "cherry" is now 4-5 in through at the stump. Your piece is very nice and of suprizing size for a choke cherry. Any hardwood is good turning stock though I fear we'll never see any sizable enough to turn up here in the north woods.
Bob

[Paul Heely]

In my area we routinely get Chokecherry up to about 6" in diam. I don't see a whole lot of the thickets of brushy ones but more small trees. We also have a lot of Black Cherry. This causes a problem because many people call everything Chokecherry. But I've learned to argue as long as its called free :D. In the case I do believe it was Chokecherry based on its size and the rougher texture of the bark. Unfortunately when it was taken down there were no leaves to assist with identifying the species.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Pretty NE Paul!

[Robert McGowen]

I like that it is so thin and shallow. It has lots of appeal. Very nice......

[Tom Sherman]

Chokecherry, black cherry, or Bing, I think you got a keeper.

[Don Vito]

I've done some natural edged bowls in black cherry. The colors are very similar. I have a couple questions:

1. Are you using CA glue on the bark?

2. I found that when my gouge moves across the dark bark and across the white colored wood it leaves marks on the whitish wood. How do you prevent that from happening? or do you just sand it down?

P.S. I follow the same policy of giving a little something back to the people who supply my hobby with wood.

[Paul Heely]

Don,
No CA on the bark.

I also found the white would discolor. What I did to fix that was take and blow compressed air through the wood. This both dried it enough that stuff would not start growing and blew out a lot of the darker material that had gotten into the grain. There was still a little to sand out but not much. I also found that trying to sand it when it was still wet cause a lot more discoloration. I learned the air trick from John Jordan's DVD, "The Aesthetics and Properties of Wood"