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CHERRY, GUMMY

Prunus spp.

Prunus spp. of the family Rosaceae --- but "Gummy cherry" is not a species, it is a figure in cherry caused by excessive gum veins that run up and down the growth rings and sometimes causes structural weakness in the wood. I am only familiar with it in American black cherry but it may well occur in other varieties of cherry.

my samples: NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K) colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank of gummy black cherry / Prunus seratina --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. This sample was sold to David as a burl but it is not; it's a crotch area with the kind of gum inclusions that make it "gummy cherry"


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


both sides of a sample plank of gummy black cherry / Prunus serotina --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Mark had this listed as "common burl" but I prefer to put this with the gummy cherries, since it IS gummy.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

NOTE:All of the samples below were contributed to the site by Gary Merlie, whom I thank. Just as a side note, when I got these I had forgotten that Gary said he was going to be sending me some and when I opened the box and started taking the pieces out my first thought was that they were bubinga. In some cases they look remarkably like kevazinga (rotary cut bubinga) in both color and figure.


this is a composite shot of all the pieces Gary sent, before I did any sanding on them --- you can see that some of them have a moderate patina that has been sanded off in the pics below. HUGE enlargments are present


4 very thin slices off of different sections. I was interested to see that although the gum veins can cause structural weakness and allow easy separation, on these 4 thins there was no sign of that even thought the gum veins are extensive on some of them. HUGE enlargements are present


the three pieces that I sanded down to get fine grain details --- HUGE enlargements are present


end grain shots of the 3 pieces directly above


end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the left-most piece directly above --- these show the rays very clearly


end grain closeup of the middle piece directly above


one of the end grain closeups of the piece directly above and the associated END GRAIN UPDATE


a couple of side grain closeups of the pieces directly above --- I took these because these particular side areas were perfectly quartersawn and really show the ray flakes nicely.


a face grain closeup of a 2"x2" area ---- HUGE enlargements are present


a couple more pieces from the set --- these are sanded but not as fully as the 3 pieces in the set above


end grain shots of the 2 pieces directly above


end grain closeups of the pieces directly above


side grain closeups of the pieces directly above


plank shot at a lumber yard. This was not listed as gummy cherry (I don't think lumber yards generally even make that distinction) but it clearly is and I took the pic for that reason --- HUGE enlargements are present.


gummy American black cherry veneer

web pics:

many of these are from Gary Merlie who provided most of my own samples up above

a surface-finished planks, moistened for the pic


planks


two pics and a closeup of a gummy slab


bookmatched thins


gummy cherry flooring --- HUGE enlargements are present

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cribbage boards


jewelry box top


chest of drawers and night stand with gummy cherry drawer fronts


key holder


cabinet door


table and drawer --- I notice that even the legs are made from gummy cherry

NOT gummy cherry
bowl listed as gummy cherry. This does not have the long veins that you see on many pieces but it does have numerous short gum inclusions. NOTE: I have it from knowledgeable correspondent Rob Mathison that this is NOT "gummy" cherry, and the discolored sections are not gum inclusion but rather "bear paw" (aka "bear claw") cherry. I have a write-up on the bear claw figure here: bear claw and now that I am familiar w/ it I totally agree w/ Rob.