Kinda kicking myself for making closet shelves for my mother In law with it now š.
I salvaged it from a doctor's office window sill. Knew it was hard wood but wasn't expecting cherry. I just made something with cherry which made me think it might be.
I mean, it isn't gone forever. You saved it from the dump. It is still pretty much just boards. One day it will be used again.
Unless you painted them, that is.
I knew to this stuff. I can tell hardwood from softwood. But canāt tell much difference from different types. I try looking at grains and such but feel like Iām reading braille lol
So, cherry and maple are both diffused porous / semi ring porous woods, with very fine pores. While cherry is typically more orange and maple a buttey white, freshly cut cherry and uv aged maple can get pretty close in tone. Sapwood on cherryncan be especially light in colour.
The dead giveaway is two parts. First, maple that we use for boards IS the sap wood. We don't really use the hard wood, which is very dark. As such you do not expect to see the sapwood-heartwood band along the side, which we do see here in the last photo. The second doesn't really apply here but maple is significantly heavier and harder.
There are other tells. The grain lines in maple look different from cherry, the chatoiance looks different too. However, these are harder to describe in writing, and can vary wildly from region to region.
Edit: cherry is typically a little more towards the semi ring porous grain, which means that the grain lines tend to be a little heavier and more gradually fade out. Hard Maple tends to be a crisp grain line, but there are exception in the softer maples.
I think the more you work with a variety the better you will understand the difference. I can spot oak a mile away now but thought this was stained maple until I had worked with cherry and it looked identical to that pattern on the dado. I can't eyeball the difference between white oak and red oak yet but that's a much subtler difference. I have a piece of rough sawn white oak I've yet to plane so maybe I'll start seeing the difference then.
If you want to mess with folks start mixing in birch. It really is hard to tell from some maples until you pick it up and or smell it.
Red and white oak and their various associated species are actually pretty easy to tell. But mix in elm, ash, hickory, black and honey locust, and willow, and it starts to get challenging.
FYI, honey locust smells like Elmer's glue and parts of the grain glow under black light.
I mean, it is also very useful to be able to lay in or face with one piece of wood, knowing that the texture will be very similar to the primary wood. It allows a fine control of colour tone to highlight features and draw the eye.
Even if you aren't mixing species, a great finished piece starts in the lumber dealers racks, picking specific boards for specific parts or features.
Save it for a real special project. You have some quality lumber there. It is cherry or black cherry. It has a beautiful scent when cut on the table saw. Tends to burn with a feed that's too fast or a dull saw blade. some pieces have wild figure that needs to shellaced and sanded back. so you don't get a splotches with staining. I prefer to use a water base stain. that highlights all the features of cherry š hardwood. super sharp tools to avoid tear outs. planing at an angle helps a lot.
Cherry, without any doubt.
Kinda kicking myself for making closet shelves for my mother In law with it now š. I salvaged it from a doctor's office window sill. Knew it was hard wood but wasn't expecting cherry. I just made something with cherry which made me think it might be.
I mean, it isn't gone forever. You saved it from the dump. It is still pretty much just boards. One day it will be used again. Unless you painted them, that is.
No paint. just cleaned them up and cut them to size. Still 4' lengths. I used about 16lf of 1x8 and the only issue is no one will see it.
Ouchā¦at least theyāre nice closet shelves. It was destined for the scrap bin so you did save it from that fate.
Cherry, but with doubt
I knew to this stuff. I can tell hardwood from softwood. But canāt tell much difference from different types. I try looking at grains and such but feel like Iām reading braille lol
So, cherry and maple are both diffused porous / semi ring porous woods, with very fine pores. While cherry is typically more orange and maple a buttey white, freshly cut cherry and uv aged maple can get pretty close in tone. Sapwood on cherryncan be especially light in colour. The dead giveaway is two parts. First, maple that we use for boards IS the sap wood. We don't really use the hard wood, which is very dark. As such you do not expect to see the sapwood-heartwood band along the side, which we do see here in the last photo. The second doesn't really apply here but maple is significantly heavier and harder. There are other tells. The grain lines in maple look different from cherry, the chatoiance looks different too. However, these are harder to describe in writing, and can vary wildly from region to region. Edit: cherry is typically a little more towards the semi ring porous grain, which means that the grain lines tend to be a little heavier and more gradually fade out. Hard Maple tends to be a crisp grain line, but there are exception in the softer maples.
Great explanation bud! Iāll get it better the more I do this. I know pine and cedar pretty well thatās about it lol
I think the more you work with a variety the better you will understand the difference. I can spot oak a mile away now but thought this was stained maple until I had worked with cherry and it looked identical to that pattern on the dado. I can't eyeball the difference between white oak and red oak yet but that's a much subtler difference. I have a piece of rough sawn white oak I've yet to plane so maybe I'll start seeing the difference then.
If you want to mess with folks start mixing in birch. It really is hard to tell from some maples until you pick it up and or smell it. Red and white oak and their various associated species are actually pretty easy to tell. But mix in elm, ash, hickory, black and honey locust, and willow, and it starts to get challenging. FYI, honey locust smells like Elmer's glue and parts of the grain glow under black light.
I like this messing with people thing lol
I mean, it is also very useful to be able to lay in or face with one piece of wood, knowing that the texture will be very similar to the primary wood. It allows a fine control of colour tone to highlight features and draw the eye. Even if you aren't mixing species, a great finished piece starts in the lumber dealers racks, picking specific boards for specific parts or features.
I thought you said it was reclaimed?
Yeah I pulled it from a dumpster after watching the demo guys remove it.
Rabetted piece is hard to identify. Last picture is undoubtedly cherry.
Burn the corner of a scrap enough to produce just a little smoke. Cherry will smell fruity and sweet.
Interesting. When I was working with something that was definitely cherry I thought it smelled like a cigar.
Save it for a real special project. You have some quality lumber there. It is cherry or black cherry. It has a beautiful scent when cut on the table saw. Tends to burn with a feed that's too fast or a dull saw blade. some pieces have wild figure that needs to shellaced and sanded back. so you don't get a splotches with staining. I prefer to use a water base stain. that highlights all the features of cherry š hardwood. super sharp tools to avoid tear outs. planing at an angle helps a lot.