{"id":2344,"date":"2017-06-19T04:00:07","date_gmt":"2017-06-19T08:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/?p=2344"},"modified":"2017-04-15T16:20:47","modified_gmt":"2017-04-15T20:20:47","slug":"2344-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/2344-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen Anne Cherry Wood Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Geographic Distribution<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The tree which yields the fruit known as the Queen Anne cherry is a cultivar, or variety, of Prunus avium<\/em>, the genus and species with also yields all other commonly consumed cherry fruits of various cultivars and types, including perhaps the most famous of all, the Bing cherry.<\/p>\n

Frequent readers with a propensity for remembering botanical names will recognize the similarity to Prunus serotina<\/em>, or Black Cherry<\/a>, one of my favorite woods with which to work.  P. avium<\/em> is the species which yields edible fruits, of which Queen Anne is a yellow and red variety, very similar in appearance to the Rainier cherry, but being slightly tarter.  Queen Anne cherries often find their way into “cordials,” chocolate covered with syrupy centers that are most commonly sold around the winter holidays.  They are also available canned.<\/p>\n

P. avium <\/em>is native to a wide swath of territory ranging from as far north in Europe as Norway, south across the Mediterranean Sea to North Africa, and eastward as far as central Asia with a small subpopulation in Himalaya Mountains. P. avium<\/em> has been planted practically worldwide for its fruit and is now even naturalized in parts of North America and Australia.<\/p>\n

In the United States, P. avium<\/em> is most commonly found in the Pacific Northwestern states of Washington and Oregon as well as in northern Michigan, all places where commercial growing and harvesting operations are based.<\/p>\n

For the sake of common understanding, I will refer to P. avium<\/em> from here forward simply as Queen Anne cherry.<\/p>\n

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Queen Anne Cherry Interior Detail<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

General Characteristics<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Because Queen Anne cherry trees are not commonly used for their timber, being of interest almost exclusively for their fruit, my usual sources of information about wood are silent.  However, it is noted that Queen Anne cherry wood is hard and slightly reddish in color.<\/p>\n

Working Characteristics<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The generalized working characteristics of Queen Anne cherry are not noted in any professional resources for the reasons noted above.  However, I can report that when freshly turned, the wood does have a delightful, if faint, sweet cherry-like scent.  My additional observations and experiences will be noted at the end of this post.<\/p>\n

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Queen Anne Cherry Exterior<\/p><\/div>\n

Pricing and Availability<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Queen Anne cherry trees are not harvested for timber, but it is possible, albeit unlikely, that one could locate pieces of the wood that have been recovered in the process of orchard pruning or through the removal of orchard trees or specimen trees in gardens.  It never hurts to develop a relationship with local “tree surgeons” or other professionals who remove trees on a routine basis as a potential source of unusual woods.<\/p>\n

In this blog, I always recommend a range of vendors with whom I have done considerable business and in whom I have great confidence.  These vendors are: West Penn Hardwoods<\/a>, Bell Forest Products<\/a>, NC Wood<\/a>, Got Wood<\/a>, WoodTurningz<\/a>, Woodturningblanks4U<\/a>, Amazon Exotic Hardwoods<\/a>, Exotic Woods USA<\/a>, and Griffin Exotic Wood<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My smallish piece of Queen Anne cherry was purchased from Exotic Woods USA, a dealer in Florida that often features unusual species obtained from local private gardens and homes.  The piece was purchased in August of 2015 for about $11.00.<\/p>\n

None of the other wood dealers with which I am familiar sell Queen Anne cherry at this time, nor have I ever known them to.  I suspect that this piece was quite unique and unlikely to be replicated in the future.<\/p>\n

Woodfinder <\/a>is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers.  In your search for Queen Anne Cherry, this can be an invaluable resource provided you use multiple search terms to capture all the possible listings.  I can’t speak to the quality of any of the listed dealers, but Woodfinder does have the advantage of allowing searches to be performed based on location which might allow an interested buyer to visit a listed wood dealer in person to hand pick pieces at a comfortable price.<\/p>\n

A significant problem with using Woodfinder is that many vendors are listed for woods that, upon further investigation, they do not offer.  I don’t know if perhaps once they did and they didn’t update their listings or if some vendors use a standardized list of woods that include most everything conceivable with the idea that once you land on their page you will find something you want to buy even if you didn’t know it beforehand.  It happens to me all the time!<\/p>\n

Uses<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Some sources note that wood from fruit bearing cherry trees, potentially including the Queen Anne, is used for wood turning, cabinetry, and musical instrument making.  The wood is also used for smoking meats, to which it imparts a distinctive and pleasant flavor.  Otherwise, the chief use of such trees is the cultivation and harvest of their quite valuable and popular fruits.<\/p>\n

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Queen Anne Cherry Interior<\/p><\/div>\n

Sustainability<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As a commonly cultivated type of tree it is unlikely that the Queen Anne cherry, nor other types of the same species, will likely find themselves in any danger of extinction or overharvesting.<\/p>\n

Queen Anne Cherry is not listed as being in any way threatened or endangered by the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices<\/a> nor does it appear on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To the best of my knowledge, Queen Anne Cherry is not subject to any special restrictions by any United States government agency.<\/p>\n

I realize that inherent in working with wood is the killing of a part of the natural world that may be slow to return and if I become deeply concerned about this fact, I will have to find a new hobby.  I hope that such a time does not come to pass or at least not any time soon.  In part because I am concerned about legally and responsibly obtained wood, I am reluctant to buy from sellers outside of well-established and known vendors.  I am highly unlikely, for example, to purchase any wood from auction sites, such as Ebay<\/a>, because of uncertain sourcing and documentation, as well as the potential, even likelihood, of material being misidentified in order to achieve a higher selling price.<\/p>\n

However, due to the commercial scarcity of some domestic woods, resorting to auction sites such as Ebay or Etsy <\/a>may be the only way to obtain some desirable domestic, or in some cases exotic imported, species that are not routinely commercially harvested.  The potential risks of buying in these marketplaces have to be balanced against the desire to work with a specific species of wood.  That is inherently an individual decision.<\/p>\n

I also realize that many, if not most, wood workers do not have endangered species lists memorized, therefore I think it worthwhile and important to do even a small amount of research before purchasing any lumber, domestic as well as imported, to be certain of the potential impact you are having, even in a small way, on threatened or endangered populations.  This information is easy to come by and takes only minutes to locate through any Internet search engine, including those you can access on your phone as you are standing in the lumber yard or store.  Unfortunately, you simply cannot count on a vendor to tell you a product they are selling is endangered.<\/p>\n

Health Hazards<\/strong><\/h2>\n

No specific adverse health reactions have been noted with or attributed to Queen Anne Cherry.<\/p>\n

However, the long-term negative effects of exposure to sawdust of any species are well documented.<\/p>\n

It is important to remember that although many people may, or may not, be sensitive to any given wood the only experience that truly counts is your own, so use reported side effects as guidance but not as a substitute for cautious and safe practices.  Despite a lack of reported major health effects, turning a bowl blank of Timborana (Piptadenia spp.<\/em>) almost killed me through immediate respiratory distress followed by a multiple week long illness, and my father experienced a violent skin reaction to Australian Silky Oak (Cardwellia sublimis<\/em> or Grevillea robusta<\/em>) so caution is ALWAYS warranted.<\/p>\n

Appropriate protective equipment is therefore always recommended when working with this, or any other, wood, exotic or domestic, unless you have worked with the species before and are certain you are not sensitive to it.<\/p>\n

Also bear in mind that many of the negative health effects, although certainly not all of them, are associated with high volume contact among industrial users working in mills and other processing facilities where the amount of contact with dust and wood is much higher than would ever be realistic for a hobbyist user.<\/p>\n

Complete information about health hazards<\/a> associated with a wide variety of exotic hardwoods is available from The Wood Database<\/a>.  Additional information about how to best use a dust collection system and personal protective equipment, such as respirators, can also be found through this excellent and comprehensive resource<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, I did not experience any adverse effects while working with Queen Anne Cherry.<\/p>\n

I realize it could all be a coincidence but after the experience with Timborana I am taking few to no chances with potential wood allergies.  Just because a negative reaction hasn’t been officially reported and documented somewhere doesn’t mean you can’t experience one all the same.<\/p>\n

My Personal Experiences<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I was quite excited to work with this small and unique piece of Queen Anne cherry for several reasons.  I greatly enjoy working with Black Cherry wood, indeed it is one of my favorite woods to turn.  And, I distinctly remember planting a Queen Anne cherry tree in my childhood home’s backyard, so there was a nostalgic sense as well.  However, the reality did not measure up to the anticipation.<\/p>\n

The piece of Queen Anne cherry wood that I had proved to have several severe checks, or cracks, at least one of which had been filled with cyanoacrylate glue, presumably by the seller.  In addition, there was a small amount of bark present on two sides, and the blank actually square.<\/p>\n

I cut the block to round on the bandsaw without incident and proceeded to mount it on a faceplate for turning.  It was quickly evident that the wood was quite brittle and it did not turn cleanly at all.  Compounding the difficulty was an additional check which revealed itself on the now bottom of the blank and the pressure of an expansion chuck<\/a> proved to be too strong and the bottom of the blank broke with the remainder flying off the chuck.<\/p>\n

Despite this, I was able to remount a smaller faceplate to the piece, remove the damaged bottom portion, and recreate a chuck mounting divot.  However, the break necessitated the removal of almost half the thickness of the original piece, which as a major loss.<\/p>\n

The wood, while pleasant smelling, was clearly quite hard and slow to cut, being extremely well dried.  The wood never cut cleanly, despite the use of brand-new carbide cutter blades being added to my Easy Wood Tools<\/a>.  At times it was as if I was turning acrylic blanks because of the extremely brittle nature of the wood.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, through sheer stubborn perseverance, I was able to complete a small bowl from this blank but it was not a joyous process.  Given the rarity of this type of wood, I have no way of knowing if my experience was due to having a particularly tough piece to work with or if all samples of this type of wood would behave in a similar fashion.  But, I don’t much expect that I will find additional samples to test in the future and given the experience that I had with this one, I don’t know that I would want to risk it even if I could locate additional pieces.<\/p>\n

If any reader is presented with a chance to work with a piece of fruit-bearing cherry wood, I think I would encourage them to give it a try, while bearing in mind my experience should things not work out as easily as they had hoped, knowing that it is quite likely more the fault of the wood than it is the fault of the wood turner!<\/p>\n

As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever their wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I cut the block to round on the bandsaw without incident and proceeded to mount it on a faceplate for turning. It was quickly evident that the wood was quite brittle and it did not turn cleanly at all. Compounding the difficulty was an additional check which revealed itself on the now bottom of the blank and the pressure of an expansion chuck proved to be too strong and the bottom of the blank broke with the remainder flying off the chuck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":2345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,128,129,138,139,130],"tags":[154,171,181,183,188,200,204,210,217,221,239,240,241,247],"yoast_head":"\nQueen Anne Cherry Wood Bowl - Wood Turning Pens ..<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The wood of the Queen Anne cherry tree is quite unlike that of a Black Cherry, being brittle and almost impossible to work with successfully on the lathe.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/2344-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Queen Anne Cherry Wood Bowl - 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