Cherry is a smooth, even-grained hardwood known for its warm, rich, reddish-brown color. Cherry may have some mineral streaks, pitch pockets or sapwood. Cherry mellows or darkens with age from exposure to sunlight, and can also become a deep reddish-brown with a golden luster.
It is not uncommon to find different grain contrasts in the same piece of solid cherry wood furniture. The lighter grain was closer to the tree’s bark (sapwood) and the darker grain was closer to the tree’s center (heartwood).
The picture to the left shows a cross section of a cherry tree. The dark center of the tree is the heartwood and the light outer ring is the sapwood. When choosing boards for your furniture, we focus on the darker heartwood however we cannot guarantee there will be no trace of sapwood.
Cheaper furniture that is mass-produced is often made of wood that has undergone a multi-step chemical process of bleaching, texturizing and staining in order to masque these natural characteristics of the cherry wood. In fact, most so called "cherry furniture" is not made of cherry wood at all. It's made of veneers and woods like poplar or alder that are heavily processed and do not look much like natural cherry at all.
At The Mission Motif our natural cherry wood furniture is the real thing. Every piece of Craftsman furniture sold at The Mission Motif is solid wood. We don’t cut any corners or sacrifice an ounce of quality. We stand behind the furniture we sell and guarantee your Craftsman furniture will stand the test of time.
