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Cherry wood for a stock…good or bad

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I have a good offer on a cherry wood stocked Kibler kit. Advice?
I have been contemplating a cherry stock myself and if you look at one of Jim's sites you can see a few good examples of his rifles with a cherry stock. I like the darker color stain on them. As far as the structure of the wood, cherry is a good hardwood that will last. Try this link. Photos
 
My kit built Dixie Tennessee Mountain Rifle has a cherry stock. As those were made in Japan, I think it may be Japanese cherry. I finished it with some Fiebing brown spirit stain that was branded Dixie Gunstock Stain and some pure bright red water based stain that Birchwood Casey called "Cherry stock stain." They named it for maraschino cherries, not cherry wood, I think. But I LOVE how it turned out with both stains and an oil finish!
 
I love my Cherry 58cal smoothbore looks way better in person and just a few trips out in the woods it has become my favorite! No stain just hand rubbed oil finish.
 

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it works really well but is not the best for carving. to darken just leave out in sunlight. a lot of people really like it.
 
Wile cherry can give you a nice looking stock, it is not as structurally strong as other woods. Particularly when it comes to shear strength. For that reason, pay particular attention to grain direction and runout through the lock / wrist area. If there's a fair amount of it, put a threaded rod in there and acriglass it in there . Much better to do the prevention than the cure!
 
Cherry finishes very well, its an open grained wood, however its not the hardest of hardwoods, and can dent easily. Compared to a walnut, its not as dense or hard. These are also just general statements, other factors to consider is the cut of the wood, its drying time and season it was cut in.

Some cuts of cherry can be very strong and dense, depending on how it was cut and when.
 
Cherry finishes very well, its an open grained wood, however its not the hardest of hardwoods, and can dent easily. Compared to a walnut, its not as dense or hard. These are also just general statements, other factors to consider is the cut of the wood, its drying time and season it was cut in.

Some cuts of cherry can be very strong and dense, depending on how it was cut and when.
Yes- you can find the Jenka Values (Hardness scale) of many wood species here:
https://www.bellforestproducts.com/...MIn-rWkqu_-gIVQwutBh2dLweQEAAYAiAAEgKjzvD_BwE
 
My old DGW SMR is in cherry. I think it the best looking rifle I have.
I have one of the Dixie .50 SMR's by Miroku; the Left Hand Flinters they stocked for some time as lefties sell slowly! I got in on sale from one of their flyers; the Cherry wood is Japanese, and the Japanese practically worship cherry trees! Thank you.
 
Yes, Cherry is lovely for stock wood. Jim's Cherry stocks have always been sweet to work for me (I have built 9 of them so far). Here are a couple.
Love the color, carving and grain of these. What type of finish did you use? I have a SMR on order from Kibler with cherry.
 
Love the color, carving and grain of these. What type of finish did you use? I have a SMR on order from Kibler with cherry.
You will love it!
I dye the wood to get the deep reddish-brown color (or any other color) . Then apply several sessions of a wiping varnish and sometimes I use a paste wax to finish it off. Here is a Kibler SMR that I did in Cherry.
One thing about Cherry, however, is that it can look 'blotchy" due to the grain and wood density. I think Maple takes the stain more evenly.
 

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