Thursday, 01 May 2003
Pennsylvania Cherry Proves a Popular Wood
If George Washington had reason to believe his fabled cherry tree had been black cherry, he would have let it grow, chopped it down once mature, sold the wood to a furniture maker and used the profit to grow more cherry trees. Numerous FSC-certified furniture makers and other manufacturers have found a market for this regal wood.
Black Cherry, the largest of the native cherries and the only one of commercial value, is found throughout the Eastern United States. It is also known as wild black cherry, rum cherry, and mountain black cherry. Large high-quality trees, suited for furniture or veneer, are found in large numbers on the Allegheny Plateau of Pennsylvania. According to Blaine Puller, forester for Kane Hardwood, it is the cherry capital of the world.
The tree and its fruits have found many uses. Wines and jellies are made from the ripe, somewhat bitter, black cherries; a wild cherry cough syrup is made from the bark; and the wood is used in furniture making. Birds and mammals eat its seeds.
There is a strong market for cherry in the U.S. The cherry found in Pennsylvania’s state FSC-certified forests and in the Collins Pennsylvania forest finds its way into many FSC-certified companies. FSC-certified furniture makers The Joinery in Portland, OR and Berkeley Mills in Berkeley, CA both source their FSC Pennsylvania cherry through Kane Hardwood. Martin Guitars of PA uses some FSC-certified cherry from Pennsylvania to make guitars. Pennsylvania cherry was used to make the russet-toned floors in FSC-U.S.’s Washington D.C. headquarters office. Cherry from Pennsylvania was most notably used for a large wall installation at the San Francisco International Airport.
“While cherry is the most valuable wood in the Pennsylvania forests, it’s important to keep in mind that in a temperate hardwood forest you have about 10 species of wood," explained Puller. “To manage a forest sustainably means managing it for diversity. The most diverse forest is the healthiest—the most resistant to pests and disease as well as market fluctuations." Kane Hardwood has worked hard to create a market for the other hardwoods, like red maple, oak, ash, poplar, beech, sugar maple, tulip poplar, white oak, and basswood. “You can’t just cut out the most valuable trees and leave the rest," said Lee Richardson of Kane Hardwood. “It just so happens that red maple makes nice furniture as well," he adds.