Friend has chance to get wood from cherry orchard. Is the wood any good. In Atlanta ornamental cherry is not much use for bowls. Black cherry is what is prized. What do you know about Michigan cherry orchard variety? Seems cherries are famous.
-
February 2026 Turning Challenge: Cookie Jar! (click here for details) -
Congratulations to Matt Carvalho for "Red Mallee Folded Form" being selected as Turning of the Week for February 9, 2026 (click here for details) -
AAW Symposium demonstrators announced - If the 2026 AAW International Woodturning Symposium is not on your calendar, now is the time to register. And there are discounts available if you sign up early, by Feb. 28. Early Bird pricing gives you the best rate for our 40th Anniversary Symposium in Raleigh, North Carolina, June 4–7, 2026. (There are discounts for AAW chapter members too) For more information vist the discussion thread here or the AAW registration page
-
Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.
Michigan cherry orchard wood?? any good
- Thread starter Bob Howell
- Start date
Depends what you mean by any good. No idea how often they cycle orchard stock, so no idea of the size. If it's on the smaller size, heart wood will be at a minimum. But crotchwood can still be terrific for smaller work and natural edge work. It's going to move quite a bit, and be very susceptible to cracking if left sitting around in chunks like any fruitwood. I wonder if they graft to different root stock. That's always special!
I have turned a few pieces of fruit Cherry (from Ontario) turns well the color stays much lighter than Black Cherry, at least the ones I turned,
Here a couple of pictures of the sweet Cherry, the pile is two logs I cut down at the same time for the owners, a Apricot and a Cherry tree.
No more problems with splitting than other woods, (I do dry them slowly in a brown paper bag) I find the color quite nice, just not the same as Black Cherry.
Here a couple of pictures of the sweet Cherry, the pile is two logs I cut down at the same time for the owners, a Apricot and a Cherry tree.
No more problems with splitting than other woods, (I do dry them slowly in a brown paper bag) I find the color quite nice, just not the same as Black Cherry.
Gretch Flo was getting periodic gifts of UP cherry wood a couple years ago. You might direct a message to her, as her participation here has dwindled and she might not see this. She gave me a couple pieces and it was very nice wood with which to work.
More recently, a neighbor got a literal truck load of orchard cherry pieces to use in his smoker. I grabbed a few of them and they are gnarly, irregular, nasty chunks of wood that split readily. It was not dried in any controlled way, so the splitting noted might not happen if you get it green and manage the process. The wood was also not selected for use in woodworking, so what I saw might be more nasty than whatever is average.
More recently, a neighbor got a literal truck load of orchard cherry pieces to use in his smoker. I grabbed a few of them and they are gnarly, irregular, nasty chunks of wood that split readily. It was not dried in any controlled way, so the splitting noted might not happen if you get it green and manage the process. The wood was also not selected for use in woodworking, so what I saw might be more nasty than whatever is average.
Ornamental cherry spalts quite readily, I got some really pretty stuff I cross cut and stabilized for pen blanks. Even used some of that for a segmented bowl.
I have some sort of cherry that I got from a tree cut down next door. It is a fine grain and light color. Cherries never got completely red but green with a tinge of red. Made nice pen blanks.
I have turned goblet forms and lamp shades from black cherry, choke cherry, pin cherry and yard cherry of unknown name with out any major problems. If working with green cherry you need to get a uniform thickness if rough turning or if using the full round with the pith turn very thin and allow to distort. The large goblet form I think is from a yard tree.
Fruit woods for me have always been a select wood that usually turn nicely on the lathe.
I've turned some. In my experience, it's an easy wood to work with, but the quality and color vary greatly from piece to piece.
Fruit trees are usually pruned to provide a multi-branch crotch which will provide interesting wood grain for turning. This section of the tree is what I prefer to turn when it is available. These crotch pieces are only available when the entire tree is cut down, otherwise the orchards are usually pruning individual branches from the tree when damaged from storms when they occur or performing normal pruning and maintenance of the tree. If you have orchards in your area visiting these businesses on a yearly basis can open up opportunities to acquire fruit wood pieces when they are available.
Passed this on to my friend. He is picking up some, cut by a friend, as he passes through.
Don, those goblets are awesome!