Brazilian Cherry, difficult to work with?

[Dewayne Reding]

Just picked up a couple nice boards today. Building a small table and a clock or two. Any words of wisdom? Sure is heavy, and it seems harder than oak. I assume the router cuts better be gradual. Does it cut and plane well? Normal titebond glues work OK? Thanks

[Dewey Torres]

It's real name is Jatoba and it is easy to work with. It is a hardwood and you my dull a tool or so on it but I love working with it.

Once you get a finish on it it really pops!

It cuts and planes well and responds very well to standard woodworking glues.

I would recommend a finish that will penetrate to get the full beauty. I use tung-oil, poly, blo combo that is pre-made and sold as tungoil finish. Don't forget the pics.

[David Romano]

I've worked with a bit, mostly architectural stuff like shelves and celing beam covers. It is nice to work with, better than ash or oak in my opinion. It's extremely hard and heavy. Cut edges can be as sharp as a knife and lifting it feels like a piece of steel compared to pine or cherry. Predrill everything, feed the work slowly, keep your blades clean and get the feedrate just right because if you get burn marks, they are hard to remove because the wood is so hard. Take light slow passes on the planer/jointer. The way the tree grows is in a corkscrew fashion. When you see the stripes in the wood that change appearance with viewing angle, it is because the board is quartersawn and the grain is going in alternating directions. This makes tearout more likely. Gluing it is no problem, but I let it soak in a bit just to be sure that there is enough for a good bond. I had a glue line separate once. Don't stain it, just choose a nice oil or clear finish, satin finishes give the most respect to the natural beauty of it. Let the oild soak in, but you need to babysit it for a while, because it weeps. You need to keep wiping the surface of the little droplets until no more appear. Otherwise, the oil dries and you have a sticky mess on the surface. It is definitely one of the most beautiful woods I've used. It make a nice cutting boards, knobs, handles,etc.

David

[Peter Quadarella]

I am working on a project with some now, almost done, and while it is beautiful, I did not like working it. It dulls all my tools too fast and was difficult to do anything by hand.

[Brad Shipton]

I have milled about 800bdft of FAS Jatoba stock (4/4 and 8/4) within the last four months and with around 10% of it I have had problems with tearout. Exactly as David explains. Much of it machines perfectly, but some boards I try both directions, light spraying and I still have more tearout than I like. The tearout is not easy to sand out either since the stuff is way too hard. You will be able to tell after the first pass on the jointer. Other than that and being hard on cutters, its a great wood since it is not one of the oily exotics. I have had great luck with TB.

Good luck.
Brad

[Peter Quadarella]

The wood I was using had that tearout issue, so maybe mine was part of that harder 10% to use. And I used every ounce of what I had, so I couldn't trade it out for better stock.

[guy knight]

works nice use a oil finish to bring it alive and predrill for nails or screws it spits easy

[Dewayne Reding]

Thanks for all the advice. You got me thinking I will pull off the Forrest WWII and throw on the factory Lietz blade until I get the initial rough ripping done. Can't afford to have my good blade dulled this week. Two many Christrmas projects on the works. I will get some PICs up. I am excited, it is gorgeous wood without finish. It is the same price as American Cherry at $6.95 BF. I am unable to comprehend that as cherry is not particularly rare here.

[James Biddle]

Maybe I have soft hands, but I collected a TON of slivers while milling it. Only project that I thought about milling with gloves on.

Jatoba is another wood where I wish I had upgraded earlier to Byrd heads on my jointer and planer.

I used Watco Cherry and garnet shellac as a base finish for this cabinet to pop the jatoba.
http://home.comcast.net/~jbiddle/pics/golfcab2dr2.jpg

[Hank Knight]

Maybe I have soft hands, but I collected a TON of slivers while milling it. Only project that I thought about milling with gloves on.

Jatoba is another wood where I wish I had upgraded earlier to Byrd heads on my jointer and planer.

I used Watco Cherry and garnet shellac as a base finish for this cabinet to pop the jatoba.
http://home.comcast.net/~jbiddle/pics/golfcab2dr2.jpg

James,

That's a beautiful piece!

Hank

[Russ Hauser]

I have an almost unlimited source of 3/4 inch Brazilian Cherry flooring cutoffs from a friend that I have been using for pen turning. I think I'd rather use this that any other wood I've used on pens. Easily worked with sharp tools and blades, and the wiped on shelac and wax finish works well.

Russ

[J.R. Rutter]

I like it a lot and use a few units per year. I'll just reiterate that tools need to be sharp, and preferably carbide. The Shelix heads are perfect for jointing and planing it. We use the latex dipped gloves to handle it at all times except for gluing. Every glue that I've used has worked well. Edge joints need to be tight and fit well before clamping. There is quite a bit of variety in color, which will be more pronounced after it is exposed to sunlight. If you need flat, straight parts, don't be tempted to flatten twisty boards. In my experience, they keep twisting later on. Some people react to the dust. I get a mild itch, and try to wear long sleeves when working it.

[Frank Drew]

Very nice work, James, and the wood looks very interesting. The bottom right panel and some of the framing could almost be mahogany.

[Mark Hoffman]

I used it in a bathroom remodel. built all the cabinets and molding out of it. if you try to take too much off at one time with the router it will chip out. I took about 5 passes on the raised panels. I used General Finishes oil on it. after about 3 coats it looks really nice. if i uploaded the pic correctly it is my linen cabinet - about 95 inches tall.

[Brad Shipton]

James, I am curious. how heavy was that? Great finish, thks for sharing the pic and giving me ideas.

Brad

[Bob Aquino]

I like it. Did about 3 rooms in the house for flooring with it. Its no harder to work then oak. Glues about the same. Very stable, has some color variation. Will darken quite a bit with normal room light exposure over time.

I did this mantel fireplace surround last year: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_nh7rpc89jO0/SN76fHAzqjI/AAAAAAAAEUA/aR8F48uOyfg/s800/P1010824.JPG

This end table was made entirely out of flooring scraps and unused pieces:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_nh7rpc89jO0/R2CXSlMq-UI/AAAAAAAABqg/MYPLEWpsUGE/s800/P1010278.JPG

Price wise its not bad. Locally I can get it for about 5 a bd foot, and its nice, clear wood with pretty grain. Very little waste. Probably my favorite wood to work with.:D

[James Biddle]

James, I am curious. how heavy was that? Great finish, thks for sharing the pic and giving me ideas.

Brad

Two people carried it with the doors removed IIRC, but it was heavy.

Nice cabinet Mark.

[Brad Shipton]

James:
I can only imagine. I just got some 8/4 and one piece was 10" wide and 13' long. It was almost all I could do to lift that single piece.

Brad