Replies

1. 
   Bob_"The_Boardman" | Apr 29, 2000 06:43pm | #1

   *
   Poplar is an inexpensive wood, doesn't have a lot of grain, is easy to work with and takes stain/dye very well.

1. 
   Sgian_Dubh | Apr 30, 2000 04:48am | #2

   *Red Alder. Very, very hard to beat for faking the appearance of cherry. A bit soft though, so it is just possible that you might be better off not trying to fake it and simply use, er.....Cherry! Sliante.

1. 
   Drew_Nyman | Apr 30, 2000 11:08am | #3

   *More often than not, when you figure out how many hours you spent trying to fake something, you realize that it would have been cheaper to just buy the real thing. don't be so cheap. What are you a Scots man??(Hope Sgain dos'nt see this).

1. 
   Sgian_Dubh | May 01, 2000 03:45am | #4

   *I did. Sliante.

1. 
   Stan_Ochtabienski | May 02, 2000 01:02am | #5

   *As previously suggested, poplar makes a passable substitute for cherry except that you have to carefully choose your boards because some poplar has dark green to black grain (very un-cherry like). When staining, it is recommended that you use a wood conditioner first as poplar has a tendency to take the stain unevenly and splotch similar to pine.Good luck.

2. 
   Don_Stephan | May 02, 2000 02:39am | #6

   *When I was in a similar situation, I found that using a "cherry" stain on the poplar followed by a colonial maple stain yielding a more attractive result that also more closely resembled cherry. Good luck.

3. 
   Sgian_Dubh | May 02, 2000 05:22pm | #7

   *Oddly enough I've just priced a bed in Cherry. Here are the approximate timber costs expected.* 12/4 Cherry. 15 bd. ft. $97.5* 6/4 Cherry. 50 bd. ft. $247* 4/4 Cherry. 35 bd. ft. $141* Total $485.5For fun I priced this in Poplar,using the same board feet numbers.* 12/4 poplar, $28.50* 6/4 poplar, $69.50* 4/4 poplar, $44.50* Total $142.50A saving of $343 in the purchase price of the timber. Add to my cherry price labour and mark ups, and we end up with a price of about $4000 for a bed in clear finished, natural cherry.In poplar, the labour for the construction remains the same, make an adjustment for the cheaper material, and this gives a price of about $3400. Now add $250 for the extra labour required to fake up the poplar to look vaguely like dark aged cherry, and we are at $3650. This gives a saving to the customer of $350. The customer is going with unstained cherry, because they reason, what's a $350 saving on a $4000 bed?This makes sense from a professionals point of view, but I assume your circumstances are different, and you perhaps you don't count your labour as a billable entity, particularly if you are an amateur. A $343 saving might be significant to you. Still, red alder is an easier material to fake cherry with, but I don't have prices for that material to hand, but it might be worth checking out anyway. Sliante.

4. 
   tumerman | May 04, 2000 04:38am | #8

   *thanks to sgian,bob, don,stan and drew for all the helpful and not so helpful but entertaining answers. indeed tthe bed would cost alot more than 4000 dollars if i had to bill an hourly rate based on my day job.luckily mine is a labor of love , but i would agree a little more spent upfront may be the right way to go. thanks again. marc