What Kind of Cherry ?

[Vincent Vogel]

What kind of cherry is this? It's not black cherry and I can't find bark like this in my tree book. Western Pennsylvania.

 

[Paul Paukstelis]

Some ornamental variety. Perhaps Kwanzan.

 

[Darryl Fective]

Looks a lot like some of the wood I've picked up in our local orchards. I really can't believe I've lived here 25 years and still don't know the differences between tarts and sweets. Some of my neighbors can tell just in a quick drive by.

 

[Vincent Vogel]

It was pretty large for an ornamental. The piece pictured was from breast height and 14" diameter and the main trunk was 20' until the top crowned. Could be an ornamental because there was a house on the lot years ago.

 

[Bill Blasic]

My best guess is Wild Cherry as the bark looks like the Wild Cherry pieces that I have.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Agree with Bill. looks like any number of wild cherry trees in our area, though some of them actually change their bark as they grow older, changing from that to a more striated bark (It no longer "Stretches" as it grows and instead splits and cracks much like other local mature trees do) Of course there's also birch with similar bark, but that's usually a much whiter color...

 

[JeffSmith]

looks very similar to the NW Bitter Cherry that's native here in the Pacific Northwest

 

[Vincent Vogel]

It's definitely some sort of cherry, very fragrant when turning it. I just found it odd that it wasn't listed in my tree identification book.

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

What kind of cherry is this? It's not black cherry and I can't find bark like this in my tree book. Western Pennsylvania.

Some type of ornamental cherry, maybe weeping cherry?

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

This piece was given to me on the 22nd of May it was about 5" diameter and about 18" long. The bark looked like what you would see on birch except for the color. The exposed ends were already checked badly so I cut both ends off and proceeded to turn a goblet. The piece in the middle has the dovetail tenon and notice the bark is partially missing on the goblet, but the remaining developed that ripple which I believe is because the wood shrinks more than the bark. The wood looks like typical cherry but the smell as the wood was exposed was different than black cherry.

 

[Kevin Jesequel]

I agree with those that said wild cherry or bitter cherry. That is our native cherry tree out here in Oregon.

 

[Vincent Vogel]

View attachment 76028
This piece was given to me on the 22nd of May it was about 5" diameter and about 18" long. The bark looked like what you would see on birch except for the color. The exposed ends were already checked badly so I cut both ends off and proceeded to turn a goblet. The piece in the middle has the dovetail tenon and notice the bark is partially missing on the goblet, but the remaining developed that ripple which I believe is because the wood shrinks more than the bark. The wood looks like typical cherry but the smell as the wood was exposed was different than black cherry.

The bark on the small end of the log looks like your picture.

 

[Paul Paukstelis]

There are so many hybrid cherry tree varieties it is likely impossible to fully distinguish by the bark alone. Here are a couple of Kwanzan with very similar bark to the original photo.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

The bark on the small end of the log looks like your picture.

I agree and since the tree I have was cut locally and it does not look like the bark on any of the naturally occurring varieties in my area it is likely some yard tree, so I am not much help in identifying it.

 

[Bill Blasic]

For years we have demoed at our selling venue and have used wild cherry that grows wild all over here. I even have one in my yard. When young the bark is red and somewhat shiny but when it is old and say 10" or so the bark looks exactly like the first picture above. It is great for demos as it turns like butter and cracks superbly for making mushrooms for planting in your garden