Leventhal - Woodworking Wisdom & Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Design, Build, and Create

WOODWORKING WISDOM & KNOW-HOW

Everything You Need to Know to Design, Build, and Create

From the Editors of Compiled by Josh Leventhal

Copyright 2014 Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers

All rights reserved. No part of this book, either text or illustration, may be used or reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the publisher.

Published by

Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc.

151 West 19th Street

New York, NY 10011

Distributed by

Workman Publishing Company

225 Varick Street

New York, NY 10014

Cover design by Ohioboy Design

Interior design by Ohioboy Design and Liz Trovato

Cover illustration Elara Tanguy

The materials contained in this work were originally published and copyrighted by The Taunton Press, Inc and used by permission of the publishers.

ISBN-13: 978-1-57912-981-1

eISBN: 978-1-60376-412-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

by Jon Arno

Of the hundreds of woods Ive spent a lifetime studying, none has so captivated me as cherry. Even now, when I bring it into my shop, its pleasant scent, subtly warm appearance, and satiny feel soothe me with a sense of familiarity and comfort. And yet every time I choose it for a project, my confidence is shaken. This species often seems to have a hidden personalityalways friendly but never totally forthcoming. There are, of course, tangible and physical reasons behind the mysteries and magic of cherry; at least, Ive discovered a few of them.

In many ways, our native North American black cherry (Prunus serotina) is a nearly ideal cabinetwood. Its density, texture, stability, durability, working properties, color, and figure are as beckoning to some woodworkers as a cold beer on a hot summer day. And history would seem to second that conclusion, because cherry has figured prominently in American furniture. Museum-quality pieces turned out by skilled 18th-century cabinetmakers are among the finest examples of American craftsmanship of that period. Also, the Shaker craftsmen of the 19th century, who certainly knew a thing or two about practicality and function, chose cherry for much of their best work.

So, how could the beginning woodworker go wrong in selecting cherry? Actually, its surprisingly easy. In experienced hands, cherry yields results of uncommon beauty, and it deserves its place as one of the worlds most prestigious cabinetwoods. But learning the whims and ways of cherry is one of woodworkings great challenges, and cherry bestows its many charms only upon those who toil for the privilege.

You never can count on any two shipments of cherry being quite the same in either color or texture. Nor can you ever completely count on its consistency from board to board within a given shipment. While one board may display the classic flesh-pink color and subtly intricate figure that is most common to this species, another will reveal a noticeably wavy curl in the grain. The next may be peppered with jet-black gum pockets, while still another will be slightly coarser textured, perhaps even flaunting decidedly greenish or chartreuse highlights. And if youre tempted to blame all of this inconsistency on sloppy handling and sorting at the mill, youd probably be wrong. In fact, much of the varied lumber in each shipment you receive actually may have come from the same log.

The average cherry tree lives a hectic and stressful life because it is what ecologists and foresters refer to as a nurse tree. It performs the role of being one of the first species to get established when forest lands have been clear-cut or burned. Its roots help to hold the topsoil against erosion, while its foliage provides a sparse canopy for the retention of moisture and the protection of the seedlings of other species. In other words, cherry is a transitional player in the natural process of reestablishing a mature forest because it serves the needs of other species that will overtake it eventually. It helps to jump-start the reforestation process with its ability to disperse very quickly. Because birds eat the fruit and then pass the pit intact through their digestive systems, cherry arrives where its needed, so to speak, by airmail. Given this symbiotic relationship with birds, cherry can become established on fallow land even though the parent trees may be located many miles away. In fact, so mobile is this species that pockets of it exist along bird-migration routes as far south as Central America. Also, cherry grows rapidly in full sunlight, but it is exceptionally shade intolerant and doesnt grow tall enough to compete for sunlight in the canopy of a forest with other more robust species like maple and oak.

What all this means from the woodworkers perspective is that a typical cherry log represents a microcosm of perpetual change. Because a cherry tree spends its life struggling in an immature forest setting, exposed to constant shifts in the source of light and the ever-increasing competition from other species, it is in a state of constant adjustment. All trees compete for their place in the sun, but cherry virtually never wins. And as the surrounding canopy closes in above them, cherry trees often are weakened to a point where they are susceptible to infestation by insect larvae, triggering their natural defense mechanism to produce more gums. Those gums contain chemicals that affect cherrys pigmentation, its patina-forming properties, and its potential toxicityall topics of considerable importance to the woodworker.

The chemical compounds produced by cherry, which wood technologists refer to as extractives, are the building blocks of the woods unique pigmentation. As with all species, once the living tree produces these extractives, they are transported inward through the rays, where they are stored in the inner wood tissue that eventually becomes heartwood. It is the greater concentration of these extractives in the heartwood tissue, and their tendency to form more complex compounds called polymers, that produces the woods natural heartwood color. With most species, these polymers develop more or less completely while the tree is still alive. They may oxidize and undergo subtle changes once the log has been milled, but the dominant pigmentation of most woods is relatively stable once the heartwood develops.

While cherrys extractives do polymerize to some degree in the living tree and give the wood its initial flesh-pink color, they remain exceptionally reactive, even after the log has beenmilled. Unlike most other species, the extractives in cherry are photosensitive. They tend to darken, rather than fade, when exposed to light. There are a few other woods with photosensitive extractivespurple-heart, for examplebut in most cases, the exposure to light causes a rather quick and complete conversion of their extractives into relatively stable pigments. Cherry is different: While the initial darkening effects of light can be seen almost immediately, continued exposure to light seems to result in an ever-deepening patina over the span of years or even decades. To be sure, strong light eventually will bleach the pigments in cherry, as it will in all woods, but it is a long time coming before it happens to cherry.