Prunus serotina
Black Cherry
The cabinet-maker's favourite. Easy to machine, ages beautifully into a deep reddish-brown.
- Coltivato fuori dall’Europa e importato tramite depositi europei.
- Gruppo botanico. Le conifere hanno foglie aghiformi, le latifoglie hanno foglie larghe.
- La famiglia botanica a cui appartiene la specie.
Avvisami quando arrivaSpecie di riferimento. Al momento non ci sono pezzi disponibili.
È adatto al tuo progetto?
Ideale per
- Kitchen and dining tables
- Cabinet doors and fronts
- Chairs and benches
- Wall panelling and built-ins
- Turned bowls and small objects
- Interior joinery
Nessun pezzo di Black Cherry nel lancio attuale
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Aspetto del legno
Che aspetto ha
Fine, mostly straight grain with a smooth, even texture. Plain-sawn boards show a soft, flowing figure; quarter-sawn faces are calmer. Small gum pockets and pin knots are common and accepted as part of the look. Fresh-cut wood is pinkish-tan and lighter than buyers expect.
- Fresh-cut: pinkish-tan to pale salmon, lighter than most buyers expect
- After a few weeks of light: shifts to warm amber
- After 6–12 months: deep reddish-brown, the classic cherry tone
- Sapwood stays pale cream and does not darken at the same rate
- Light exposure is uneven, anything covered (rugs, books, lamps) leaves a lighter ghost on the surface for months
- Fine straight grain, smooth texture; warms with age.
Lavorazione
Come si lavora
One of the most forgiving hardwoods to machine. Saws, planes and sands beautifully with sharp tooling. Turns and carves well. Glues and screws without drama, though it's softer than European cherry so pre-drill near edges. Steam-bending is workable but not a strength.
Finitura
Sands to a glassy surface with little effort. Takes oils, hard-wax oils, shellac and waterborne finishes cleanly. Stains can blotch on flat-sawn faces. Use a washcoat or gel stain if you're matching a tone. Most makers skip stain entirely and let the wood do the work, because it darkens on its own.
Essiccazione
Dries at a moderate rate with a mild tendency to warp and surface-check if pushed. Tangential shrinkage (6.5–8.0%) is roughly twice radial, so flat-sawn wide stock moves more than quarter-sawn. Sticker carefully and let kiln-dried slabs acclimatise in the workshop before flattening.
Quanto si muoverà?
Il legno si gonfia e si ritira in larghezza al variare dell’umidità dell’aria. Stima il movimento stagionale di un piano in Black Cherry prima di progettare i fissaggi.
Movimento stagionale previsto
circa 8,3 mm
Fissa il piano con nottolini o staffe asolate, non con colla o viti serrate.
Modello di ritiro lineare: larghezza × (ritiro ÷ 28 % di saturazione delle fibre) × variazione stagionale dell’umidità. Usa un ritiro tangenziale del 7,25 % per Black Cherry. È una stima di progetto, non una garanzia.
Quanto costa
Sicurezza e provenienza
- Coltivato fuori dall’Europa e importato tramite depositi europei.
- Stato nella Lista rossa IUCN: la valutazione globale dello stato di conservazione di questa specie.
Food-contact safe once finished, which is why it's a long-standing choice for kitchen and dining work. Cherry dust is a known irritant and some woodworkers develop sensitisation over time. Run extraction and wear a mask when sanding.
Leggi la guida completaNote approfondite su marezzatura, variazione del colore, lavorazione e stabilità.
What Black Cherry actually is#
Prunus serotina is the American counterpart to European cherry, and it is the more practical of the two for large work.
Both species darken dramatically, both have the same satiny fine grain, and both are excellent to work. The difference is supply. Black cherry is grown as a forestry species across eastern North America, so it arrives in larger, straighter, more consistent sizes. European cherry is often salvaged from orchards and gardens, and matched wide boards are correspondingly harder to find.
If a project needs several wide boards that look like each other, black cherry is the easier answer.
The darkening#
This is the defining property of both cherries and it needs planning for.
Fresh black cherry is pale pinkish tan. Within six months of light exposure it has moved most of the way to a rich reddish brown, and it continues deepening more slowly for years.
Three consequences follow. Do not choose stock on its current colour, because it is a stage rather than a result. Do not leave objects sitting on a new cherry surface, because uneven exposure prints permanently lighter patches that take months to even out. And do not expect a UV inhibiting finish to hold the pale fresh colour, because it slows the change without preventing it.
The stability advantage
Domande degli acquirenti
Domande degli acquirenti
Does Black Cherry darken like European Cherry?
Yes, dramatically and in the same way. Fresh stock is pale pinkish tan and deepens to a rich reddish brown within a year of light exposure, with most of the change in the first six months. Uneven light exposure leaves permanent lighter patches under anything left in place, so let a new piece darken evenly before placing objects on it.
How does it compare with European Cherry?
Softer at 4,226 N against 5,120 N and slightly less dense at 560 against 600 kg per cubic metre. The main practical difference is supply: black cherry is grown as a forestry species in eastern North America and comes in larger, straighter, more consistent sizes, so matched wide boards are much easier to source than in European cherry.
Why does it burn so easily?
Cherry scorches readily under routers and dull blades, and the marks are dark and obvious on pale wood. Its fine close grain and moderate density concentrate heat at the cutting edge. Sharp tooling, correct feed rates and light final passes prevent it. Burns must be cut or scraped out rather than sanded, which usually just polishes them in.
Is it stable enough for a wide tabletop?
Proprietà meccaniche
Dati tecnici
Valori di riferimento pubblicati. Quando le fonti non concordano, viene mostrato l’intervallo e il valore tipico è usato per le scale sopra.
| Densità (kg/m³)Massa per metro cubo con circa il 12 % di umidità. In genere, un legno più pesante è anche più duro e resistente. | 500–620 kg/m³valore tipico 560 kg/m³ |
|---|---|
| Durezza Janka (N)Forza necessaria per spingere una sfera d’acciaio fino a metà nel legno. È la misura standard della resistenza alle ammaccature. | 3,800–4,500 Nvalore tipico 4226 N |
| MOR: modulo di rottura (MPa)Resistenza alla flessione: il carico al quale una trave si rompe. | 80–95 MPa |
| MOE: modulo elastico (GPa)Rigidità alla flessione: quanto si incurva una mensola o un piano sotto carico. | 9.5–11.0 GPa |
| Ritiro radialeRitiro trasversale agli anelli di crescita, dal legno verde a quello anidro. È il movimento delle tavole a taglio radiale. | 3.5–4.5 % |
