Show me your cherry

nbogan · Apr 12, 2021

Here is my Kibler SMR in cherry. This is my first rifle build but i have used a lot of cherry in furniture and other projects and love the way it works and looks. The finish is Tried and True oil. I like to let the cherry age naturally.

The Crisco Kid · Apr 12, 2021

Well you guys just made my life a lot more complicated! I'm giving serious thought to a Kibler Southern Mtn kit and I couldn't decide whether I wanted plain maple of cherry. I settled on plain maple and then all these photos showed up. What's a poor old boy to do?

azmntman · Apr 12, 2021

Robby said:
I made a bunch of them years ago. A good piece of cherry is a joy to work with!!
This is a .32 I made for my wife.
View attachment 72727
View attachment 72728
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If I remember right, I just let the sun do its work on this one, Made the furniture from german silver. I am not a good photographer, but the color of the wood is very warm and pleasing.
View attachment 72730
.45 half stock with cherry wood rib. I think I used aqua-fortis on this one which requires some rubbing out with steel wool but the resulting color is very nice to my eye.
Good luck, you will like working with cherry, heck, I even like the smell.
Robby

Dang, I woulda married ya for that rifle!!

azmntman · Apr 12, 2021

The Crisco Kid said:
Well you guys just made my life a lot more complicated! I'm giving serious thought to a Kibler Southern Mtn kit and I couldn't decide whether I wanted plain maple of cherry. I settled on plain maple and then all these photos showed up. What's a poor old boy to do?

Well Hell! I guess since ya liked the fowler ya may as well get a fowler in maple and the other in Cherry. Aint no other correct answer now that weve tempted ya!

Kestrel · Apr 12, 2021

Love the SMR in cherry!
So now, after looking at a number of rifles, most have similar wood tone/color. Wondering how Flintandsteel got the richer dark cherry color. Also seems to have more character in the stock.... are there degrees of cherry as in CM2 CM3 etc....?

rp77469 · Apr 13, 2021

Chris Hirsch build this one in the 80's. .40 caliber poor boy. He told me it was the only cherry piece he built as he became allergic to the wood toward the end of the build.

Kestrel · Apr 13, 2021

Nice work. That's crazy about the allergy!

Robby · Apr 13, 2021

Kestrel said:
Love the SMR in cherry!
So now, after looking at a number of rifles, most have similar wood tone/color. Wondering how Flintandsteel got the richer dark cherry color. Also seems to have more character in the stock.... are there degrees of cherry as in CM2 CM3 etc....?

I don't know what the 'CM2, CM3 means, there doesn't seem to be a universal standard for the measurement of figure in wood. If you are looking for figure, 'crotch wood', 'burl', and 'roping' are terms I have seen when describing cherry. the first two can vary quite a bit the third term is a bit harder to describe so here is a picture.

I did a fowler with this patterning but have no pictures. It is a lot more subtle than the striping in maple but does add to the look.
Robby

SOLANCO · Apr 13, 2021

From reading this string I get the impression cherry will darken with age?
And there is a way to hasten that?

SOLANCO · Apr 13, 2021

Some time back I questioned whether stock blanks are flat or quarter sawn. It can make a big difference in the appearance of the wood. I never saw a response to the particular question.
For an example, Tickle Google and compare images of flat sawn vs quarter sawn sycamore.

Kestrel · Apr 13, 2021

SOLANCO said:
From reading this string I get the impression cherry will darken with age?
And there is a way to hasten that?

That's what I am wondering too. I really like the Deep cherry color and would want to try and emulate that or bring that out in my gun.

Robby · Apr 14, 2021

Cherry reacts to direct sun very fast and putting your gun in direct sunlight everyday will have it attain a deep rich color in no time. There are ways to deepen the color of cherry without stain, one is ammonia. I have never used it but have seen it used and indeed it does change the color radically, I have used aqua-fortis which can turn the wood almost black, but with some #0000 steel wool and some elbow grease it will bring out a wonderful color beneath that black and if there is carving it can give natural highlights to the area. Every piece of wood within a specie can react differently so experimenting is a good idea.
Robby

SOLANCO · Apr 14, 2021

Robby said:
Cherry reacts to direct sun very fast and putting your gun in direct sunlight everyday will have it attain a deep rich color in no time. There are ways to deepen the color of cherry without stain, one is ammonia. I have never used it but have seen it used and indeed it does change the color radically, I have used aqua-fortis which can turn the wood almost black, but with some #0000 steel wool and some elbow grease it will bring out a wonderful color beneath that black and if there is carving it can give natural highlights to the area. Every piece of wood within a specie can react differently so experimenting is a good idea.
Robby

Thank you!

ord sgt · Apr 24, 2021

This was my first attempt at building a long rifle . That was 40 years ago. I replaced the Dixie lock with a new L&R lock. The Dixie got too loose.. Rather than putting Locktite on the screws, I just changed it. This piece of cherry was a good choice. Love the grain of the wood.

Jim Nasium · Apr 24, 2021

I used to store Cherry parts in the backroom in the dark at the furniture mill after it came off the floor. Before it went to the floor we would wrap the rough stock in cardboard as the fluorescent lights would darken it within a month. Like Robby mentioned, I'll bet the sun would do it even faster.

redbeard381 · Jun 25, 2024

Magungo1066 said:
if historical accuracy is important to you make sure to, make sure to read up on where Cherry was used, and on what style of guns!

I was going to make an English officers Fusil and was thinking cherry. Is this not historically accurate?

Cruzatte · Jun 25, 2024

redbeard381 said:
I was going to make an English officers Fusil and was thinking cherry. Is this not historically accurate?

In Great Britain walnut was the preferred stock making wood (J. regia). I've been shopping from time to time for English, or European walnut & have found it to be prohibitively expensive. A less expensive substitution is American black walnut (J. nigra). One of our master builders has come up with a clever way to disguise black walnut as European walnut by using Rit yellow dye. It is supposed to mute the rather purplish hue of American walnut.

olskool · Jun 30, 2024

here is one in cherry with a lot of figure i done and sold it the other day. it is a Kibler SMR 40cal,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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