(above:Black Cherry, Locust, Sugar Maple, Red Cedar, White Birch, White Birch with bark, Pin Cherry)
Each box was made with a piece of wood from the collection in my shop. Each different specieswhas a unique story Here they are...
Cherry
The wood for this box is Black Cherry. I love working with cherry for many reasons. It has a rich grain and a rich colour. Unlike some woods whose colour fades over time Cherry only gets darker and richer. Cherry also has a distinctive but pleasant sweet smell when worked. It can be challanging to work as it burns very easily even with the sharpest tools but otherwise behaves well.
This particular lumber came from the farm of Frank and Flora Knight, of Day road in Gillies Corners. After surviving the ice storm of 1998 Frank and Flora had a number of hardwood trees down and damaged. Rather than cutting the mature cherry trees up for fire wood Frank decided to have a local sawyer come to their property. They were able to salvage enough lumber to have their entire farmhouse kitchen redone with solid cherry cabinets. The remaining wood stayed dry in the barn which is where I found it when I needed some wood for a dining room table. The remaining bits and pieces I stashed away in my shop for a project just such as this