Thread: Chest of Drawers in American cherry

Nice piece of furniture Rocker, and of course something any craftsman would be proud of.

Compact and functional...I like it.

How well does Cherry work and as a fruitwood have you made comparisons here?

Cheers

John,

American cherry is a beautiful wood to work with. It machines easily, and develops a rich red colour after a few years. I believe the wood of related fruiting cherries has similar properties, but would be hard to find in the widths needed for furniture making. American cherry is obtainable on Australia's east coast, but it costs around three times as much as it does in America. However, if you can get Tasmanian myrtle, it is a worthy competitor for American cherry.

Rocker

Lovely piece Rocker.
I can't get my hands on any of that stuff in the skips round here. However with the u.s. $ at its present rate I would get two or three of your woodwork neighbours to make up a shipping order and import. Customs allowing of course.

Hey Rocker,

Where abouts in Colorado did you live? I spent a couple of years as a boy in the very small town of Green Mountain Falls about 16 miles west of Colorado Springs.

Not sure which is better growing up in the Rockies or the beaches of Perth. I was lucky and did a bit of both.

Grunt,

I lived for four years in Greeley, CO. It is on the plains NE of Denver. I much prefer living in QLD, although I do miss access to American timbers at cheap prices. But then there are plenty of good timbers here.

Rocker

Great looking cabinet. Must have taken a while to build. You must really have woddworking down to a fine art to be able to spend that sort of cash making a cabinet out a cherry.


Once again good job.

Kris,

As I mentioned above, cherry is not an expensive wood in America. It cost me US$6 a board foot. I reckon that I used about 40 board feet, or 0.1 cu metre to make the chest of drawers , so the primary wood cost about US$240, and the secondary wood and hardware were maybe another $200. So, for around US$450, I made a piece that would have to be worth about three or four times that sum.

Rocker

That is certainly a great design Rocker and the timber and craftmanship looks terrific . You must have had some heavier items of woodworking equipment when you made that . Did you bring them back to Aus. or start again to build up your workshop here?

Peter

Peter,

I had to sell all my woodworking machinery before I left America, because of the different voltage over there, so I had to buy everything new when I returned to Australia, apart from hand-tools and router bits. However, I have probably recovered their cost by making about 35 items of furniture over the past five years. Now that the house is just about full, I make furniture as gifts for rellies or for sale.

Rocker

To Rocker

If you would like some more American cherry follow this link.

http://www.timbmet.com/html/soffers/...sitem.php?id=9

Best wishes.

Jow,

I think the freight and duty and GST would kill the deal for Aussies, although the price seems quite reasonable for England. But note that those prices are per pack, maybe half a cubic metre. So you would need room to store it too.
I would not like to go through the hassle of importing timber myself.

Rocker

Yes Rocker. When I have exhausted my supply of softwood I'll give them a try minimum quantity by the way was 10cu.ft.

An Australian link below might be of interest perhaps to woodworkers down under.

http://www.timber.net.au/companies/ATIF.htm

Jow,

Cubic feet? I thought you could be hung, drawn and quartered for selling goods in imperial measures in England.

Rocker

I thinkd that dear old lady Margaret Thatcher mus have got a free pass on that one. After all the Americans I suppose sell to us as cu.ft.