Has anyone out there had experience with using American cherry wood for rifle stocks?

Roy Dunlap, in his book 'Gunsmithing' mentions it as a possible alternative to walnut - generally rather plain, and lacking in figure, but similar in weight, and of greater strength. However, some books I have read on the subjects of timbers and furniture making describe it as being prone to warpage, but it is not clear whether they mean warpage in the course of drying out from green, or warpage after it has been seasoned and made into something. If it means the latter, it would NOT seem to be a good choice for a stock wood.

Dunlap implies that although cherry is quite a hard timber, it is not too difficult to work with. (provided tools are kept sharp, but that can be said about most timbers) Other books suggest that it can be quite difficult to work with, which splits the vote.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has actually used the stuff. A timber merchant near where I live has a good stock of it at present, some in planks wide and thick enough for hunting or varmint rifle stocks. The visible stuff in the stack looks fairly plain, and light-coloured, but I could live with that if it has a good grain layout. (before anyone asks - yes, there is some excellent New Zealand-grown walnut still available, but at prices that make me wince!!)

I haven't used it for a stock, but I have used lumber for furniture, veneer for speakers, and a bit for firewood.

It is pretty wood, and if you get it from a cold climate can often have a bit of curly figure in it. The American variety, at least, can have black 'gum' pockets in it. It works well with woodworking tools, with a slight propensity to burn if your cutters are not sharp. Fairly dense and hard. I am not sure how it would hold up to recoil.

IMO cherry would look best with a stainless barrelled action. There is something appealing about light brown / reddish wood and matte stainless.

Todd

wild cherry, which is the only cherry wood i've delt with, is HARADER THAN A TROLLS HEAD, once dry, and very brittle. the concept that fruitwoods are soft doesn't apply to this or to beauxdart (ossage orange)... once hard, you litterally treat it like a metal,,, At least I do...

if you do decide to go this route, find a RECENTLY downed cherry tree, cut the blanks.. then cut the blanks into rough stocks....

this stuff is TOUGH.. the last cherry tree i tried to cut, form my wife's family land, had been down for a couple years.. my brother in law has a loop chainsaw... that goes through ppine and oak like a stripper through a $100.... DULLED the blade to the point that I had to pay for it to be sharpened (it had been sharpened 2 days before.. fresh) and did't make it 5 inchs in.


great for musical instruments, inlays, grips and handles... I wouldn't do it as a whole stock
jeffe

From Riflesmithing by Jack Mitchell;

Cherywood machines well and has good strength, elasticity and stability. It is not quite as hard as walnut and slightly lighter in weight. It checkers well and is quite acceptable for gunstocks.

I have used highly figured curly cherry to make stocks for a couple Stevens Favorites that I restored. I gave one to my dad and another to a close friend. They look beautiful. I got the idea from an early Win 94 that had exhibition feather crotch stocks. They put any walnut to shame. That particular rifle was all origional factory and I would almost bet it was the only cherry stocks Winchester ever did. A little known fact is that cherry was also used on a small amount of M14 stocks. My first National Match M14 that I was issued had a cherry stock. I sure hated having to give it back.

I have been planning on doing a cherry stock on a Win M70 Classic with an octagon barrel but havent gotten around to it yet.

Here is the guy I have purchased my cherry blanks from. He also has great tiger maple. His prices are excellent.

http://www.gunstockwood.com/products.html

When they are finished cherry stocks are as good as they get. They hold checkering far better than walnut.

redrover,

I have built many cherry stocks. First of all, the cherry that is common to this area of N.A. is Black Cherry (prunus serotina) and is distributed generally in the eastern half of the U.S. By your description I am guessing this is what they have. I would try to find out the origin if you can, just to make sure. What follows is assuming you are building a one piece sporter...

The warping characteristics you asked about are true to green wood in the drying process. Often, Cherry will �twist� very badly so it is often cut much oversize. Once it is dryed and made into something it is comparatively stable. There are precautions that must be taken.

Depending on the grain of the wood, there can be some �movement� as tension is released in the blank as it is worked. This must be taken into consideration when you plan out the inletting and roughing of the blank. The straighter the grain, the less twist you should see, and this will translate into less tension in the blank... A really twisted up piece and you could see significant movement as the blank is worked.

Basically, I do a rough inlet by machine, leaving more wood than I normally do with Walnut. I then rough the shape. This gets rid of most tension. I usually hang the piece for several weeks in a dry place as insurance ( I have found this really helps). I then do the final inlet and complete the rest of the stock.

As far as special considerations when working with Cherry. Yes, sharp tools are a must. I will sharpen tools twice as often in cherry. Cherry has very few wood pores and may not take some oils very well. I have found wiping on a dark walnut stain gives the stock a very nice �cherry� tone and then follow with some kind of clear coat.

Hope this helps. (wait a second, I just screwed up, there is no way you can do this without my help!!! Send me a plane ticket, one way works for me.)

pdhntr

(7 days, 12 hours, 20 min.)

I, too, have a fine piece of cherry from this company, Tiger Hunt in PA. The blank looks great, but I've yet to make the gun with it. It isn't turning red at all quickly, though. I think it will look good with a browned barrel.

Many thanks to all who have responded to my enquiry � the information you have supplied is very helpful. It sounds like cherry wood should make quite a reasonable sort of stock, provided I can avoid stuff with a twisty sort of grain, and don�t encounter some really spiteful stuff like �jeffeosso� describes.
pdhntr: your advice makes good sense. I always have the best of intentions of roughing out stocks and then leaving them for a while to �settle�, but it�s hard to do sometimes � once I get started, I want to keep going!

This morning I obtained a basic sort of data sheet from the timber merchant who has the cherry wood I was looking at, and it confirms that the stuff is indeed prunus serotina, though it doesn�t say which part of the country it comes from. It describes the amount of movement in service (meaning the degree to which it swells and shrinks with changes of moisture content) as �medium�. I was hoping that it would be in the �small movement� category, but I guess medium will be OK. (though I see that Tiger Hunt claim that it is a VERY stable timber)

I�d like to have you here to give me some first-hand advice and tuition, but for what the airline ticket would cost, I could buy a good walnut blank or two and not have to worry about a suitable alternative.

Red

I think cherry would/does make an excellent stock. It seems to be harder than black walnut. Many stocks have been made from cherry as it is strong, stable, and fairly light. Before plastics cherry wood was use for the wooden parts of precision instruments such as levels and balances because of its stability. According to a reference I have it doesn't warp or move at all after seasoning despite temperature or moisture changes. Maybe it moves more in drying than some woods but I doubt it. I have cut some cherry and salvaged some from log landings and it certainly appears strong and stable to me.

It doesn't have much figure generally but is attractive. An appropriate stain to give it a little more deeper red color would be nice imo. Plateau Hunter

best of luck...

I was after, funny enough, a large section of it, to drag back to houston to make stocks from....

far as I know, it's still out an A.C.'s place

jeffe

I have buit a lot of furniture from cherry and you can rest assured that once it is cured is is VERY stable. The wood from Tiger Hunt is very well and properly cured. He also hunderstand proper grain layout for a stock. He also stands behind his stocks and if you arent happy with the wood he will make it right with you.

The figure in his cherry is similar to tiger stripe in maple but the curls are wider and more of a subtle rippled effect. It is beautiful when finished properly. Well worth the effort of making a stock out of. He also occasionaly has some feather crotch that will make your eyes pop out.

I would definately go for it if I were you. If you are going to get a slab of cherry talk to TH. He understands what is needed for a stock and will help you find just the right piece.

I'll second the recommendations for Tiger-Hunt. I picked up a maple blank from him that is just what I hoped it would be. It's got a pretty dense curl to it but it's not the repetetive pattern that travels the length of the stock that I've seen on many other maple pieces. The curl seems to come out of the wood in patches and then disappear back into it, coming back out farther down. It's kind of hard to describe, so I'll just say that I'm a very satisfied customer and would buy from him again if the need arises.

irwin

Old posting, but just the kind of information I wanted to get. Do any of you guys have pictures of finished rifle stocks in CHERRY???????

Back in 1980-81 I built a Dixie Tennessee Mountain Rifle from one of their kits. It has a black cherry stock. Very nice.

Tell the everyone, where woulf I buy the best quality, dense, figured cherry?

Lets try that again!

Tell me everyone, where can I buy the best, dense, figured cherry in the proper size for a long LOP gunstock?

Take a chance and try Tiger Hunt. He is crappy at getting pics sent, but his wood is well worth it. Tell him what you are looking for and he will make sure you are happy with it. If you dont like it he will take it back no problem. You are only talking a couple hundred at most from him. It isnt like you coughing up a grand or more on a blank of English or Turkish walnut here.

Now I am just trying to figure out how big a peice of blank I need. How long it has to be to make the 15 lop for me???????

Does he have all different sizes, because I am not sure the 33 inch long red maple I bought for a friends gun would be long enough for mine??????

The crows ate the cherries, so my dad had the tree cut down.

I ripped the 18" trunk into 2" slabs on the band saw with a riser and 1" bi-metal blade, stickered it, and now 10 years later, it looks good, but is heavy compared to Walnut.

Good advise from everyone on the use of cherry. It is a very stable wood when dry, and very dense and hard. It is easy to "burn" cherry on a belt sander, etc.

I use cherry quite often in my manufacture of turkey calls, especially paddles. The quality of a cherry paddle against poplar side boards is very melodious. As someone else mentioned, cherry darkens with age, so keep this in mind in the finishing process.

Alder is very often used as an alternative to cherry. Alder sometimes can be found to have a very desirable grain, is slightly easier to work with, and looks almost identical in character to cherry. Don't rule out this wood.

Good luck

When it comes to finish, I want it finished with oil like a fine walnut stock. I do not want to darked it or change its color. I want the natural color to come through. This is why I am looking for a high quality peice of wood.

I've used it for muzzleloader stocks. It works easier than maple, and does not dull your tools as fast. But it is rather brittle, so you have to keep your tools sharp, and do be careful when doing the inletting and shaping.

This stock is oil finished, and not stained. It has darkened somewhat over the years, but is NOT as dark as it appears in these photos.....

http://gunstockwood.com/ has figured cherry for gunstocks.

Thank for the help. I am looking into Tiger-Hunt and Dunlap right now to see ifthey have a blank that fits my size and needs.