Cherry, eraser, and joiner

[David Ragan]

Hi everyone,I went a bought a bunch ~90 Bd ft of Cherry Saturday. (Not going to make most recent mistake of not enough mahogany.) Beautiful. I have three questions....1) Most all the boards have some fine black squiggles in them. Seem to be more in areas where branches take off. What are these. I was going to include them in the blanket chest for niece, but mother in law said no-couple of good reasons there. Anyway, they are really fine. Is that pith, or minerals? Is it a structural weakness? They persist with planing. I will use a kind of rustic element later on a diffo project. Just not on this blanket chest for niece.2) I have 8" Jet joiner. Some of the boards are >8". I will probably just do the best I can, then use a hand plane......There seem to be many different ways of handling this situation. Also, I found out through my favorite default method (ignorance/stupidity) to be VERY careful about joining boards to put EQUAL pressure across the face of the board, or.........it will come out wedged 3) What eraser do you all use to take off pencil marks on boards. I use chalk sometimes, a fat HD shop pencil other times. 4) What advise of working with cherry...we aren't taking about blotching finishing yet?

Thanks

David

[Sean Troy]

Hi everyone,I went a bought a bunch ~90 Bd ft of Cherry Saturday. (Not going to make most recent mistake of not enough mahogany.) Beautiful. I have three questions....1) Most all the boards have some fine black squiggles in them. Seem to be more in areas where branches take off. What are these. I was going to include them in the blanket chest for niece, but mother in law said no-couple of good reasons there. Anyway, they are really fine. Is that pith, or minerals? Is it a structural weakness? They persist with planing. I will use a kind of rustic element later on a diffo project. Just not on this blanket chest for niece.2) I have 8" Jet joiner. Some of the boards are >8". I will probably just do the best I can, then use a hand plane......There seem to be many different ways of handling this situation. Also, I found out through my favorite default method (ignorance/stupidity) to be VERY careful about joining boards to put EQUAL pressure across the face of the board, or.........it will come out wedged 3) What eraser do you all use to take off pencil marks on boards. I use chalk sometimes, a fat HD shop pencil other times. 4) What advise of working with cherry...we aren't taking about blotching finishing yet?

Thanks

David

Any Black Cherry I've ever cut down and milled has had those black lines in it. Never had a problem with it.

[Jim Becker]

The black marks are generally pitch pockets and are natural to cherry. Some trees have a lot; others do not. Some folks consider it a defect; some do not. (same goes for sapwood) The pitch isn't a weakness that will compromise your project structurally.

A soft eraser can be used for pencil marks. I personally use chalk to mark rough cuts and a sharp pencil for fine cut marks. They get sanded off after milling.

I love working with Cherry. One word of advise...use clean and sharp cutters. There is a lot of "sugar" in cherry, maple, etc., and you can get burning if you use a dull cutter or try and take too much with a router/shaper bit at one time. For routing, sneak up on the final surface by making your last cut extremely light. And be sure you are careful about color matching across project components. There can be a lot of variability in color which is one reason that it's a good practice to always buy way in excess of what you need for a given job. What you don't use will not "go bad" and can benefit other projects in the future.

I will not go into "blotch" here...that's best for the Finishing Forum...other than to say that one person's "blotch" is another's "wonderful figure". I'm in the latter school of thought.

[glenn bradley]

I use 'em. Like Jim, I see figure where others see blotch. If you want a homogeneous look get some birch, alder or some of that "stain" that folks spray on that looks more like paint .

[Lee Schierer]

I use a Pentel .7 mm pencil to mark for cuts. I use HB lead. It marks nicely without indenting the wood and erases easily by either sanding or using a vinyl eraser. I label pieces that need labeled with chalk. When erasing erase with the grain first.

The black squiggles are pitch pockets and are not a weakness or defect. Some people don't like them some do. Some people also like wood with worm holes, some don't. As Jim noted the amount of pitch pockets can vary widely from tree to tree and board to board.

You can reduce the wedge effect by flipping boards end to end after each pass unless you get too much tear out in one direction.

[Danny Hamsley]

The black squiggles are mineral streaks, and they occur in some cherry. Why some and not others? Micro-site/soil differences. Trees are individuals. Personally, they give the wood character as far as I am concerned. Makes it look real and natural and not like that vinyl/cherry/tape/plastic/veener/coating like you see on cheap particle board hotel furniture.

[Tim Janssen]

Also be aware that cherry darkens over time
I love cherry and love working with it'
Good luck with your project.
Cheers!

Tim

[John Aiton]

Denatured alcohol works well to remove pencil marks.

John

[lowell holmes]

Plus one for figure. The wood will darken with age and the contrast in the figure will tend to blend in. If you want to speed up the process, find a sunny place in the house and leave the piece there.

[Frank Drew]

I think cherry ages to the nicest color if clear finished (no stain), and staining, in my experience, is most likely to produce blotching in cherry unless the wood is pre-sealed with a wash coat of something.

Knot larger that pin knots or holes I consider defects, but I don't mind those streaks in cherry at all.

[Ken Platt]

I find trying to remove pencil marks annoying, so I use chalk. A few years back I found some really cheap at Ocean State Job Lots, so I bought a bunch and leave pieces all around the shop. To me it's also a lot easier to see

I don't know whether I have weird pencils or weird alcohol, but it doesn't remove any of my pencil marks.

Ken

[David Ragan]

Yeah, so the major excess turned out good. (my family already calls me 'stock up').

I do like the defects. Made a walnut knife cabinet, and the worm hole part wound up being a useful decorative element. My mother in law loved it (decorating queen with great taste).

I'll use the streaks on a piece for rustic look.

I have gone in and tried to reply to all these responses. Need to get to work!

Thanks all! David