Types of cherry wood

Cherry wood is a popular type of wood, mainly used in the production of high-end furniture, wooden doors, flooring and other home furnishings.

Cherry wood is primarily found in the United States, but also in Europe and Japan, where it is known as European cherry and Japanese cherry, respectively. These two types of cherry wood differ from American cherry wood in texture and color, and are slightly denser. The heartwood of cherry wood ranges from deep red to light reddish-brown, with straight grain, narrow brown pith spots, and tiny sapwood capsules within the fine lines, resulting in a fine texture. Cherry wood has an air-dry density of approximately 0.62 g/cm³, classifying it as a high-grade timber suitable for the production of high-end furniture. In door manufacturing, besides being used for solid wood doors, it is often used for surface decoration of wooden doors.

The wood has good bending properties, low hardness, and moderate strength. It is easy to process, causes minimal wear on tools, and has good screw-holding power, gluing ability, and polishability. It shrinks significantly during drying, but remains dimensionally stable after kiln drying.

Cherry wood is a high-grade wood with a straight grain. It naturally contains brown heartwood spots and small gum pockets, resulting in a fine, clear texture, good polishability, and excellent finishing, making it suitable for high-end home furnishings. It also has good machinability and dries relatively quickly.

European cherry wood

Geographical distribution: Europe, including the United Kingdom and Northern Europe.

General characteristics: The heartwood is light red to brown, with straight grain and a very fine and uniform texture. The average density is 610 kg/m³, and the specific gravity is 0.61.

Mechanical properties: The wood has excellent bending properties, moderate bending strength and impact resistance, and moderate impact strength, but low hardness. Its mechanical strength is comparable to that of oak.

Machinability: It causes moderate wear on cutting tools. Straight-grained surfaces are very smooth after machining, but when machining wood with interlocking grain, the cutting angle should be 20°, otherwise the cutting edge will easily become dull. The wood has good nail-holding power, gluing properties, and staining properties, resulting in excellent surface finishes.

Applications: Due to its tendency to warp, it is generally used in applications with small cross-sectional dimensions. It is used in furniture and cabinetry, and is suitable for making machined parts, shuttles, toy parts, and musical instrument components. Its sliced ​​veneer is a high-grade finishing material for furniture, doors, and wall panels.

Japanese cherry wood

Latin name: Prunus japonica, L., Rosaceae family.

Trade name: Yama-zukura, kaba-zakura (Japan).

General characteristics: The wood ranges in color from light red to brown, gradually turning into mahogany. It has a straight grain, fine and uniform texture, an average density of 630 kg/m³, and a specific gravity of 0.63.

Mechanical properties: The bending strength, impact strength and impact resistance are all moderate. It has good flexibility and can be bent into shape well after steaming.

Machinability: Moderate tool wear. When there are cross-grained or irregular textures, planing or profile milling is recommended. To reduce tool wear, a cutting angle of 20° is preferable. Excellent nail holding power and screw holding power. Good adhesion, colorability, and polishability, resulting in a good machined surface.

Applications: Used for high-end decorative joinery, cabinetry, interior woodwork, musical instrument parts, toys, shuttles, and is also highly suitable for making turned parts and carvings. Selected logs can be used to make sliced ​​veneers for furniture finishing or paneling.

American cherry wood

Latin name: Prunus serotina, Ehrh. Rosaceae family.

Product Name: Black Cherry (USA and Canada), also known as Cabinet Cherry Wood in the US.

Geographical distribution: Small or scattered distribution in the annual deciduous forests of the United States and Canada.

General characteristics: The heartwood ranges from deep red to light reddish-brown, with straight grain, narrow brown pith spots and tiny resin capsules within the fine lines, and a fine texture. The average density is 561 kg/m³, and the specific gravity is 0.50.

Mechanical properties: Wood has good bending properties, moderate hardness, moderate strength, and resistance to impact loads.

Workability: Wood is easy to work by hand or machine, with low wear on tools, and good nail holding power, gluing power, and polishability.

Applications: Suitable for parquet flooring, pipes, musical instruments, furniture and cabinets, high-end joinery, and marine interior trim; particularly suitable for turned or carved parts. Selected logs can be used to manufacture furniture veneers, cabinet veneers, wall panels, and smooth doors, etc.