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Identifying Wood (cherry vs wood that is stained like cherry)

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3.7K views 5 replies 2 participants last post by  kindanewbie  
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#1 ·
It seems cherry, in particular, is copied alot. It seems there is a lot of beech, birch (Im assuming) that are stained the deep color.
So... how do you tell if you really have cherry?

I ask because I often see tables where the wood, if really cherry could be reclaimed and used. If it turns out to be an imposter it doesnt have quite the wow factor.

Are there any signs other just knowing the grain? (If its maple its hard to tell)
 
#2 ·
I don’t know why b/c cherry is still one of the cheapest hardwoods out there.

It can be difficult, but yeah the grain pattern. Cherry doesn’t usually have prominent cathedral grain, and often has little streaks of dark here and there. Pitch pockets are a dead giveaway. End grain doesn’t usually have prominent arced growth rings.

I saw Charles Neil stain white poplar to mimic cherry and you couldn’t tell from a distance.
 
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#3 ·
DrRobert said:
I don’t know why b/c cherry is still one of the cheapest hardwoods out there.

It can be difficult, but yeah the grain pattern. Cherry doesn’t usually have prominent cathedral grain, and often has little streaks of dark here and there. Pitch pockets are a dead giveaway. End grain doesn’t usually have prominent arced growth rings.

I saw Charles Neil stain white poplar to mimic cherry and you couldn’t tell from a distance.
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What drives me crazy is the cherry so often stained a dark deep red. Which, I guess, also makes it easier to mimic.
What I dont get is why stain cherry at all? Its a beautiful wood naturally.

I see, potentially cherry tables, and for 20 or 30 bucks can pull some good strips from them. But Id have to sand it first to see if its really cherry.
 
#4 ·
Cherry is probably my favorite wood. While I don't agree with staining very dark, I use dyes (usually tinted shellac) to darken or even out color and oil or dye to pop the figure. For example the wood used in the bowfront table below was very light salmon colored. I knew it would darken, but I wanted to speed it up and enhance the figure.

That said, I prefer to let it naturally age. The dresser pics are 4 years apart in a well lit room. Every year the drawer fronts look better and better. :)

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#6 ·
Could this be cherry?...
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Wood Identification

Ive always read how palettes are made of all kinds of woods, and often hard woods. Yet, through years and years and years of palettes Ive never seen anything but crappy pine. Just recently, I got a palette that might be oak. I cant tell. Its tougher than pine in that I cant dent/scratch it with...
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