Cherry Wood

[rathpipe]

Hello All,

Made my first Cherry Wood pipe today, kind of a tall Dublin. I thought it would be a lot easier than briar but it really wasn't. That is not the reason I wanted to make a Cherry pipe but it was my thinking that a softer wood, would be easier to deal with. I cut it so that I had straight grain going from the heel to the rim.. Might have been a mistake as that left me with a rim that is just a bit rough, I think because Cherry is more porous and I just couldn't get the rim as smooth and glossy as I wanted. Come to think of it when I make furniture from red oak, the end grain never finished like the sides.

The reason I wanted to try Cherry was that I smoke Latikia and I had read on this site that Cherry and Latikia went together pretty well for a good smoke. I think they might be right as I am smoking and smiling as I write. Smoking that ol' Cherry tree I cut down about 12 years ago. It was a piece of the limb and when I cut it down, I cut a chunk and ran it across the jointer until it was somewhat square and put it up on the shelf. Glad to run into that ol' tree again.

I have quite a bit of the Cherry left and am thinking about doing the same thing but gluing some briar to the top so that I would have a contrasting color and a better rim.

Happy Puffing,
Larry

[rathpipe]

Well.....

My first cherry pipe smoked well, got hot as I expected but I didn't expect to have sap seep to the surface, on the shank. I thought this wood was well dried out after being on the shelf for so long. I'm going to sand it off, keep smoking it and see what happens. I half expect it to crack the shank, time will tell.

Anyone had this problem with cherry.

Larry

[LexKY_Pipe]

I have found that softer woods are not as responsive to sanding and easy shaping as is briar. I see others have found the same.

[rathpipe]

I bought some Brazilian Cherry Wood at the Woodcraft store, today, and it is much heavier than the American Cherry Wood. Seems to be dry so I don't think the weight is moisture, the grain is much tighter than our Cherry. Worth a try, hope it is not toxic.......

[bvartist]

There is no mention of toxicity from Brazilian Cherry (Jatoba) in any wood workers manual. But I don't know if anybody has smoked a pipe made out of it. Always nice to be the test subject isn't it!

The wood is heavy and dense. Works pretty well with sharp tools and some patience. But the rewards are good. It finishes and polishes well.

The major thing is get ready to sharpen your tools after you work with the wood. It tends to dull cutting edges very quickly.

Let us know how it turns out!

David

[KurtHuhn]

I have some cherry that's very light in color from Michigan's upper penninsula. I hope to experiemnt with it this weekend since it's different from most cherry wood that I've seen around. But, we're supposed to get 14-18 inches of snow here on Saturday night and into Sunday. Hopefully the power will stay up....

[custom300]

I have some cherry that's very light in color from Michigan's upper penninsula. I hope to experiemnt with it this weekend since it's different from most cherry wood that I've seen around. But, we're supposed to get 14-18 inches of snow here on Saturday night and into Sunday. Hopefully the power will stay up....

Kurt, did you ever get to do something with the cherry wood you mentioned? I am getting some Cherry from my father in-law's land inSouthern, Illinios. It is beautiful, but wasn't sure how it would work out in a pipe. I'm sure it is not cured, so I was wondering about heating it in an oven or something... any advise from the masses?

[KurtHuhn]

I actually didn't. I don't have too much time for experimentation these days trying to keep up with special requests, and keeping my stock up above 4 pipes....

Maybe I can find some time to do something with it tomorrow.

[rathpipe]

Hello All,
I think the sap I'm getting from my Cherry (American) is because when I cut it down it was warm weather and the sap was up. The Brazilian cherry made a nice billiard, in fact two, a large and a medium. Good smoking but maybe on the heavy side. They seem to break in well, smoke cool and haven't killed me yet.... gasp, cough, wheeze.......
Larry