Cherry (American Black) Wood Characteristics
Color: Rich, reddish-brown. Cherry darkens considerably with age and exposure to sunlight.
Grain: Straight-grained and satiny. Small gum pockets produce distinctive markings.
Qualities: Light, strong, stiff and rather hard. Cherry's grain is more subdued than some other hardwood species, with very interesting character.
Uses: Cherry is used in Scroll Saw Village, cabinetry, furniture, fine furnishings, flooring, paneling, doors, moulding, and turnings.
Finishing Cherry: Cherry is unsurpassed in its finishing qualities-its uniform texture takes a finish very well.
Easy to work, fine textured, strong and fairly durable. Becomes darker and richer with age.
Reddish brown with a golden luster. Freshly cut cherry is often very pale, but the wood oxidizes to its famously favorable rich brown red in time.
Colonial furniture makers called cherry "New England Mahogany" because of its tendency to turn dark red-brown after exposure to sunlight,