NOTE: this is not about a Prunus species but rather about interlocked grain in cherry. I ended up taking a whole bunch of pics of one batch and it just seemed like too much clutter for the miscellaneous cherry page so I've put it on its own page here.
my samples: NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K) colors will vary under other lighting conditions
All the pieces in this section are planks loaned to me by Mark Peet, whom I thank for these and other contributions to the site. These are all from the same log and Mark tells me it is European (aka sour) cherry / Prunus cerasus. Mark loaned me these, and allowed me to cut up one plank, as part of a discussion he and I had about interlocked grain in cherry and which I extended onto two different wood forums. Although I had not previously been aware of it, the consensus was that cherry definitely has interlocked grain some of the time, sometimes so strongly that bole sections are almost impossible to split for firewood. No one said it didn't, although many, like me, had been unaware of it.
Mark tells me that the log from which these planks came was incredibly difficult to split and after Mark and I talked about it, I remembered from many years ago that I once had a fire-wood chopping block of a bole section of cherry about an 18" long, 18" diameter, and after I used it for several years I went to split it up for firewood itself and BOY did that piece not want to split. I got a wedge stuck in it and I though I was going to have to burn up the whole thing just to get my wedge back but my chainsaw saved the day. Anyone who ever had such a piece to split would have no doubt that cherry has interlocked grain (something I had never heard of back when I was trying to split my piece) but what is very odd, to me at least, is that it is otherwise impossible to see.
The reason for the large number of views and closeups is that I wanted to see if I could spot ANY sign of interlocked grain other than the light curl that shows up in some areas of these pieces. Cherry apparently is one of those woods in which interlocked grain is difficult or impossible to see. At least, in this plank it only shows up in the wavy way it splits, shown in the last plank, and I have not been able to find any hint of interlocked grain in any of the other various cherry samples that I have.
Huge enlargements are present for all of the pics on this page
both sides of plank 1. The 3 cut-offs below are from this piece, which Mark allowed me to cut up because it was too messed up to use for anything else anyway. I did get two good formal-sized samples from it (cut-offs 1 and 2 below) plus one more piece (cut-off 3 below) that show the face chipping up close.
both sides of plank 2
both sides of plank 3
closeups of the split edge of plank 3 showing the wavy face that is the result of interlocked grain.
CUT-OFF SECTION 1
both sides of the first cut-off piece from plank #1 above
face grain closeups from both an upper and a lower area on the first cut-off piece
end grain of the piece directly above
end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from the left side of the end of first cut-off piece
end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from the right side of the end of the first cut-off piece
CUT-OFF SECTION 2
both sides of the second cut-off piece from plank #1 above
end grain and a face grain closeup of the 2nd cut-off piece
end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from the second cut-off piece
CUT-OFF SECTION 3
both sides of the third cut-off piece from plank #1 above
this surface has a big portion chipped off and shows the wavy surface that results from splitting with interlocked grain
end grain and a face grain closeup of the piece directly above
two more face grain closeups of the piece directly above
end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from the third cut-off piece
