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I bought a bunch of cherry wood yesterday so I have a few questions for those who've played with it.

Why are the finishes always "natural" (the few I've seen anywa)? Does it not stain well?

Anything I should know about drilling, sanding, etc?

What's the difference between Cherry and Cherry Curl?

I could have, still can, gotten all sorts of exotics at this place... Anyone know of another good wood, besides cherry, that I can use? Is Ebony toxic?

I think the reason why cherry is usually left unstained in pipes is due to the grain structure. It's very porous, and the one experiement I did with staining cherry revealed that the wood will draw the stain from the outside of the stummel to the inside of the tobacco chamber - very quickly. Of course, the reverse is also true - you can smoke some of the goopiest stuff in a cherry pipe and be rewarded with a dry smoke.

Also, cherry really does have a wonderful color left natural. It's even slightly iridescent . It's very cool.

"Cherry Curl" is probably a burl. The grain structure is liable to be curly and intertwined instread of layered.

Other woods used in pipes include olive and lemon. I've never tried either one, but I'd love to get my mitts on some of each.

I have a friend that lived in Hawaii for awhile. She made "box's" out of Olive Wood and sold them at "High End" stores. They where beautiful. I have 4 or 5 around the house. She said she had to put & keep them (raw wood) in a freezer for a period of time. To kill the bugs that were in it. This was before she worked them. Anyone heard of this.
When she moved back here she ask if I wanted any of the wood. This was long before I started making pipes. So I said no as they were to little for my use at the time. lol You never know what the next day will bring. She even had some Zebra Wood too.
Dang I am a dumb A.

[quote="KurtHuhn"
other woods used in pipes include olive and lemon.

kurt

i ased my wood guy about lemon wood and he said it is very expensive.
because if any one could get it would be him because after seeing spanu pipes i feel in love with them- i also like spanus i have 3 of this pipes. the first pipe i bought was a spanu.

jim

speaking of Spanu, and Olive wood, check out my other post in Alternative Materials. I had NO IDEA that olive was so pretty... looks real good in pipe form, IMO:

http://www.tylerlanepipes.com/modules.p ... =2791#2791

Is the Lemon wood Spanu uses actually from a lemon tree? Or is it just called Lemon because of the color?

Nick wrote:Is the Lemon wood Spanu uses actually from a lemon tree? Or is it just called Lemon because of the color?

I'm pretty sure it's actually from the lemon tree. I wonder what it tastes like.

I used to work a lot in cherry wood I never liked it apart from its lovely smell,it produces a fine finish ,I remember that it used to warp severely if it was not dry enough I would wonder if the tenon mortice joint would be ok if the wood was not dry enough.A good thing is that the wood is cheap enough for experiments to be made.I think I may have a go myself
regards

I've seen some posts (on other websites) from some guys that have been happy smokers of cherry wood pipes... they seem to like what they have. I have one that I smoke on a semi-frequent basis and the mortise/tenon junction seems fine, imo.