I live in south Louisiana near New Orleans and harvest my own wood ,mostly cherry and some pecan to build my furniture . I have noticed that the cherry wood near the Mississippi river is of excellent quality and it is very rare to find any gum pockets . The trees are in the older growth areas , we don’t have that many cherry trees, but we do have some that are very old . The trees that are located miles away from the river do have pockets of gum, sometimes plenty. My question is about the color of a few of the trees harvested , dark streaks of brown to almost black cover the entire board. I have been told that this is also gum, I have seen some dark streaked areas on the cherry boards in finewoodworking , but not to the extent that I find on my lumber. Are these streaks considered a defect ? I thank you for any info .
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Replies
Hi Mark,
I have found that some pitch pockets interspersed throughout your stock isn’t such a bad thing. But having them cover a board would make me a bit nervous. I have seen ring shakes or cracks that are loaded with this type of pitch. So I’d cut some of this stuff up, see if its structurally sound. If it looks good enough to use, I might only use it for panels rather than legs or aprons on a piece.
On the other hand, you may not have pitch or gum on this wood, but another type of fungus or mineral deposit. Take a 10x loupe and examine this brown cherry and one with a known pitch pocket and just see if they look similar. If they do, then I’d advise some caution. But if they’re different and the wood doesn’t seem punky, go for it.
Then get some cherry seedlings and plant those for the next group coming.
Gary
Hi Gary,
I want to thank you for taking time to answer my question. I will continure to examine the wood and hopefully use it.
Thanks,
Mark
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