Does Cherry Wood Ever Look Interesting?

redsquid2

redsquid2

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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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I am sometimes tempted to buy cherry wood, but I can't seem to find any with interesting grain pattern. Have you ever used it for a knife handle or any situation where the wood needs to be aesthetically interesting? I just think it is boring.

I have made file handles with it - just natural straight grained cherry - and it seems pretty tough/durable.

Pictures appreciated.

Andy
 
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I bought some cherry from a local guy a summer or so ago .... and I had the same reaction as you have. Just kind of "blah" in terms of grain. I did also buy some cherry burl, and had some stabilized .... that is more interesting .... but the plain old cherry .... I would not buy again.
 
I have found some beautiful pieces of cherry that I've made furniture out of, but I've never seen a piece where the grain is intricate enough to be interesting in an application as small as a knife handle. My desk has an incredible piece of ~2x12x60" cherry that has a beautiful wavy, iridescent, flame like figure I've never seen the equal of but it only looks that good displayed over a few square feet. If you chopped out a ~1x4" piece it would be very boring. I've never looked for cherry burls though. I'd be curious to see what they look like.
 
The root ball and some burls look good, but IMHO, regular cherry is pretty bland for a knife handle.
 
This comes down to one of the wood secrets i always think im not supposed to tell, but here goes.

basically any hardwood is perfectly serviceable as a knife handle.

Plain walnut, cherry, maple, oak, hell poplar would 100% work.

They just wouldn't be very attractive, would dent and smudge easily, and you would have a lot more trouble selling them.

as knife makers, our product is inherently a luxury good, something sold for its beauty and performance beyond what is required, so there is such a demand for curls and burls and all the other beauty that can be found in wood.
 
Here is an interesting piece freshly cut. It lost a lot of that color drying but I hope it will regain some of it with stabilizing.

XlqLzM5.jpg
 
I had a friend several years ago send me some wild cherry. It was more interesting but still kinda subtle.
 
I used cherry in a big batch of small, medieval style knives a few years ago for a commission. It was soft, easy to work with, and didn't look offensive, but there's definitely nothing there to recommend itself.
 
Kevin Kf knives said:
I've seen curly cherry, I think. I'll see if I can find a picture, but I might be full of you know what too.
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Curly cherry is a thing but the curls are usually not what you would see on something like curly maple or walnut, most of the curls on cherry are wider and when you cut a piece the size of a knife handle you usually wont get many curls in the piece , looks good on a table top though. see some here https://irionlumber.com/matched-sets/curly-cherry/
 
you might have more luck if you can get less processed wood and be selective about pieces. long straight bits will have plainer grain, while areas where branches split and the like have more complex grain.

there's also the option of using a simpler wood as a contrast to other more complex bits. get some cherry and use it as a contrast to a highly detailed guard or blade.
 
Spalted said:
Curly cherry is a thing but the curls are usually not what you would see on something like curly maple or walnut, most of the curls on cherry are wider and when you cut a piece the size of a knife handle you usually wont get many curls in the piece , looks good on a table top though. see some here https://irionlumber.com/matched-sets/curly-cherry/
Click to expand...
That's what I remember seeing, thanks
 

Other than cherry burl, the woods beauty is not shown well on small pieces such as handles. On pieces of furniture or other larger items you can see the figure. It doesn't get tight curls like maple. The color of cherry is unique though and cutting it makes the shop smell nice.
 
About a dozen years ago I sawed up a cherry burl and after it dried a couple years I looked at it and "knowing what I know now" it was really nice burl with a ton of eyes but they were all open - "knowing what I knew then" I had a bunch of holes everywhere. It put out some pretty good heat when tossed into the wood heater :eek:o_O
 
I got a a burly cherry branch of a friend about couple of months ago, it's just about 5 inches in diameter and about 15 inches long. I am interested what's inside but it might just be a large flop, I think it's about time to cut into it since I squared it (took of the bark with table saw) just after I got it. I sealed the ends but it still cracked violently.
 
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