Received an email from my local Woodcraft store offering gummy cherry. I have never heard of it so what makes it different from cherry?
Received an email from my local Woodcraft store offering gummy cherry. I have never heard of it so what makes it different from cherry?
George
Making sawdust regularly, occasionally a project is completed.
Its not in the Wood Database. I expect its a marketing ploy for some low grade cherry.
My dad gave me my great grandfathers tall case clock that was made in 1814, he said if I restored it I could have it. It was made in Pennsylvania out of cherry and it was the most miserable thing I ever sanded. Three or four passes and the paper was gummed up. I thought at the time it was just because it was old.
It came out beautiful but there is no way this is low grade cherry. Not sure what you might have but a piece of sandpaper will tell you pretty quickly. This was before I knew what scrappers were. clock.jpg
Google is your friend
http://walzcraft.com/cherry-gummy-35925/
I think it gives character; I suppose others would consider it a defect.
Obviously a defect. Sometimes defects add character, but that doesn't change what they are.
I had glued up some 7/4 cherry to carve for a chair seat. All the surfaces looked great. Shortly after grinding away I encountered a gum pocket. My hear sank but it was relatively small and disappeared with additional shaping. Sometimes, they add character and sometimes you may have to adjust your expectations when discovered during a build.
Rustic? Well, no. That was not my intention!
It's really pretty if you like wood with a lot of character... Don't buy it if you only like clear, brown, straight grained cherry.
Ron,
You may have been fighting the original varnish finish... Back in Ye Olde Days before Lacquer - furniture was finished with either drying oil varnishes or spirit varnishes over top of a "ground" coat.... Both often had large quantities of various natural gums and tree resins to make them harden.... They also often included shellacs and various waxes... They were often quite soft... And "gummy" would be a good description...
That's what I was thinking. Some kind of finish, not the wood itself.
Low grade Cherry with lots of pitch pockets, most of us use it for firewood.
Some of us go looking for it on purpose
Clock three quarter profile.jpg
Bottom moulding.jpg
Door handle.jpg
Top moulding.jpg
Cheers, Don
Don Kondra – Furniture Designer/Maker
Product Photographer
Not unlike the pitch pockets you find in southern yellow pine. I've never had the cherry pitch bleed out, however.
It's regarded as a defect, but there's not anything inherent about that's defective except that it doesn't match cherry without gum pockets.
If you find enough of it to make the whole piece of out if it's very neat. IMO of course.
It is appealing in its own way like all hardwoods. I like it too.
Rustic? Well, no. That was not my intention!
Hey Don I hope hope you gave your customer a good break on the price of that piece with all that defective cherry. Your site says you use nothing but the finest hardwoods. Just joking nice work. I just have a preference for clear or highly figured cherry and avoid anything with pitch pockets.