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Overview and range in Europe

Wild cherry (Prunus avium; Vogelkirsche, merisier) is the only native European cherry that reaches sawlog size, and it is the ancestor of the cultivated sweet cherries. The EUFORGEN species page describes it as native to Europe, western Asia and parts of North Africa, where it is a frequent but scattered member of woodland margins. The Pirinoble valuable-broadleaf handbook (CTFC, Catalonia) adds that around the Mediterranean it sits in shaded mountain sites near streams, mainly in northern Iberia. Because it is scattered, wild cherry is never a bulk species: a sawmill sees it as single stems or small lots.

Ecologically it is a light-demanding pioneer. EUFORGEN says it colonises clearings quickly but is later outcompeted by other hardwoods; it grows best on well-drained, fertile, deep, light soils with good water supply. Forest Research (Great Britain) gives rainfall above 600 mm, calls it intolerant of exposure and sensitive to drought, and rates it unsuited to dry, waterlogged or nutrient-poor soils. The Bavarian LWF silviculture article (Franconia, 250-500 m, 550-650 mm rainfall) lists deep, moderately fresh to fresh, base-rich soils in warm, sunny positions.

Growth is fast when young. The Bavarian article reports annual height shoots of 25-100 cm, ring widths of 4-5 mm on good sites, and a production period of 60-80 years to a target diameter of 50-60 cm. The Pirinoble handbook models shorter rotations of 40-50 years on well-adapted sites with a final cut at about 53 years, about 22 m height and 50 cm diameter (a Catalan plantation model, 2013 euro values). Forest Research and the Future Trees Trust monograph both give about 60 years as the upper rotation limit in Britain because butt rot becomes a concern; the Bavarian article puts root rot from about age 50 and stem rot often from about age 80.

Appearance and identification

Cherry is a heartwood species with a visible, though not always sharp, sapwood boundary. The LWF Merkblatt 65 (Bavaria) gives sapwood 2.5-5 cm wide, yellowish to red-white. Heartwood is yellowish or light reddish-brown when fresh and darkens under light to a dark reddish-brown or golden brown. Tropix (CIRAD) describes yellow-brown to reddish-brown heartwood, sometimes veined, tending to darken and turn golden with time, with orange-yellow sapwood clearly demarcated, fine to medium texture in wild trees, straight or slightly wavy grain and no interlocked grain.

The wood is semi-ring-porous according to LWF: earlywood vessels form an almost closed pore ring, with sparser, scattered vessels in the latewood. Vessels are small (mean 60-80 micrometres), growth rings are clearly marked, and fine, evenly high rays show as a mirror-like "Spiegel" on radial faces. Figure is subtle, with faint flames, stripes and fine dark vessel lines. There is no characteristic odour. LWF reports no notable difference in structure or colour between wild and sweet cherry, and says American black cherry (P. serotina) cannot be told apart microanatomically from European cherry, though its colour is usually darker (one source; I found no second). Colour is the central quality criterion, with light, even colour and a low sapwood share preferred, and green streaking at the sapwood boundary lowers value.

Properties that matter

The table gives figures with the source and region of each row. Rows from the Wood Database are North American black cherry (Prunus serotina) and are shown only for contrast; they must not be used as figures for European cherry. Moisture basis is stated where the source states it.

Property	Value	Source	Region / species
Density, mean rN	0.57 g/cm3 (range 0.49-0.67), "medium heavy"	LWF Merkblatt 65	Bavaria, Germany; P. avium. Moisture basis not restated in my extract
Specific gravity at 12%	0.60 (label inferred from garbled PDF)	Tropix datasheet	France (CIRAD); P. avium
Shrinkage green to oven-dry, R / T / volumetric	5.0 / 8.7 / 13.7-14.0%	LWF Merkblatt 65 (DIN 68100)	Germany; P. avium
T/R ratio	about 1.7 (LWF); 1.6 (Tropix)	LWF; Tropix	Germany; France
Bending strength	85-110 N/mm2 (LWF); 95 MPa (Tropix, label inferred)	LWF; Tropix	Germany; France
Modulus of elasticity	10,000-11,000 N/mm2 (LWF); 10,200 MPa (Tropix, inferred)	LWF; Tropix	Germany; France
Compressive strength, longitudinal	45-55 N/mm2 (LWF); 50 MPa (Tropix, inferred)	LWF; Tropix	Germany; France
Brinell hardness, longitudinal / transverse	51-59 / 31 N/mm2	LWF Merkblatt 65	Germany
Black cherry, density at 12%	560 kg/m3	Wood Database	North America (P. serotina)
Black cherry, Janka side hardness	4,230 N	Wood Database	North America
Black cherry, MOR / MOE / crushing	84.8 MPa / 10.3 GPa / 49 MPa	Wood Database	North America
Black cherry, shrinkage R / T / vol.	3.7 / 7.1 / 11.5%; T/R 1.9	Wood Database	North America

The two European sources agree on strength, and LWF calls the wood "ziemlich hart und zäh" (quite hard and tough). Tropix prints a few other numbers (a tangential shrinkage of 5.1% and a volumetric figure of 8.4%) that do not match LWF's 8.7% tangential and about 14% volumetric; because the PDF labels are scrambled I treat these as probably mislabelled and do not use them. Tropix warns that properties vary greatly with origin and growth conditions. In an Italian study of two clonal plantations (Nocetti et al., 2012, 71 trees), growth rate did not meaningfully affect wood properties; density best represented them.

Sawing and log handling

The log-side information I could verify is mostly about what buyers want, not about saw settings. The Bavarian silviculture article sets veneer-log targets: a minimum mid-point diameter of about 45 cm and minimum length of 2.5 m, from a clear straight stem of 6-8 m with a breast-height diameter of at least 60 cm. Quality goals are an even, mild honey-yellow to reddish colour, no green streaks, no rot and no ring fractures. It lists bark canker, gummosis, forks and steep branches as rejection criteria for elite trees, and notes that dead branches thicker than about 3 cm become entry points for decay fungi. Cherry does not self-prune (Forest Research), so clear boles depend on pruning.

My inference, not a sourced instruction: inspect log ends for rot and ring fractures, the bark for canker and gum, and decide early how sapwood will be sold or steamed. Tropix recommends ordinary or alloy-steel saw teeth, rates the blunting effect as normal, and lists peeling and slicing as good. LWF says splitting is harder than in most species. Tropix rates log durability as low (logs need treating); I found no verified storage times. Contact with iron and water can cause slight discolouration (LWF).

Drying

LWF describes slow, controlled drying as safe and unproblematic, and warns that too fast drying can lead to warping and stronger end checks. After drying, the wood is generally dimensionally stable, though it shrinks somewhat more than some other species. No temperatures or times are given in LWF.

The Tropix datasheet is the only numeric schedule I read for European cherry. It rates the drying rate as normal, the risk of distortion as high and the risk of checking as slight, with no information on casehardening and collapse. The suggested schedule, for thickness of 38 mm or less, is given as dry-bulb / wet-bulb temperature (C) and relative humidity:

Moisture content	Dry-bulb C	Wet-bulb C	RH %
Green	42	41	94
50%	48	43	74
30%	54	46	63
20%	60	51	62
15%	60	51	62

Tropix says the schedule is "for information only", asks for humidity to be raised by 5% at each step for 38-75 mm stock and by 10% for over 75 mm, and says it must be used in compliance with the code of practice. I have not verified it against any kiln trial, and the rows are not a recommendation for your kiln.

Steaming is a separate, colour-driven step. LWF says steaming green wood gives a uniform mahogany-like dark red, and alkalis can imitate the natural reddish-golden ageing tone. A Croatian study (Pervan, Jirous-Rajkovic and Antonovic, 2006) steamed green 43 mm cherry boards indirectly for 18 hours at 70 C. Sapwood lightness tended to fall and heartwood lightness to rise, and the final colour was fairly uniform. I read only the abstract, so treat it as one data point, not a process specification.

Machining, gluing and finishing

Cherry machines well. LWF lists sawing, planing, sanding, gluing, lacquering and polishing as problem-free, and says veneer cutting, profiling, turning and carving are not major challenges. Tropix rates nailing and screwing as good but says pre-boring is necessary, gluing as correct, and bending aptitude as good. Closed surfaces are easy to achieve because of the fine pores, and lacquering, staining and oiling all work (LWF).

Tropix adds one caution: acid glues may stain the wood over the long term. I found no further data on adhesive choice, so test a sample before choosing a production glue. Blotchy staining is noted only for American black cherry (Wood Database), not for P. avium in a European source I read.

Durability and treatment

Cherry is an indoor wood. LWF gives durability class 3-4 "according to the specialist literature" without naming the standard, and says it is suitable for interiors without restriction but not for exterior use. Tropix says sapwood must always be considered non-durable and rates the wood as not durable, with use not recommended under temporary or permanent humidification; its fungal-class entries are garbled in the scraped PDF, so I do not quote a class number from it.

On insects, LWF says the claim of higher insect susceptibility cannot be confirmed for properly stored, dry wood. Tropix says dry-wood borers require appropriate treatment. These statements do not fully agree, so the safe course is to keep material dry and consider treatment where borer risk is known. The Wood Database calls American black cherry heartwood very durable; that is another species and region, and not usable for P. avium.

Typical uses and market notes

European uses named by LWF, waldwissen, Tropix and EUFORGEN are furniture (since the 16th century, mainly as veneer and also solid), interior fit-out (parquet, wall and ceiling panelling, built-in furniture), cabinetwork, turning, carving, sculpture, marquetry and inlay, and musical instruments (pianos, woodwinds, xylophones), and small items such as knife handles.

On market, LWF says demand is often higher than supply and that high-quality stems have very high added value. The Future Trees Trust monograph says demand in Britain exceeds domestic supply. A price statement in the Bavarian silviculture article (undated in my extract, Bavarian forest-owner context) gives premium cherry as EUR 500-1,200 per cubic metre of standing volume ("fm"). I could not verify what quality, year or sale form that range refers to, and I have found no current price list, so treat it as an order of magnitude only. An Irish study cited by the Future Trees Trust suggests returns about double those from beech and sycamore, which is a comparison of growing returns, not of sawn prices.

What is uncertain or varies

• The Wood Database page for European cherry would not load. I used Tropix and LWF as the European property sources and the Wood Database only for American black cherry, kept apart.
• The Tropix PDF has scrambled labels. Density, strength and drying risk values are partly inferred from number order and are marked so; its shrinkage numbers conflict with LWF and were not used.
• No sawing parameters, log storage times, or kiln schedules beyond the single Tropix table were found. The Tropix schedule is informational and untested here.
• The EN 350 class for cherry heartwood was not read as a clear number. LWF's "class 3-4" cites the literature without naming the standard.
• Gum pockets, heart-colour defects and pith flecks are not covered in any source I could open, so I make no claims about them beyond gummosis as a standing-tree rejection criterion.
• The EUR 500-1,200 figure is undated and of unclear basis. No other price was verified.

Key points

• Wild cherry is a scattered, light-demanding pioneer; supply comes as single stems and small lots, with veneer taking the best logs.
• European density is about 0.57 g/cm3 (LWF, range 0.49-0.67), bending strength about 85-110 N/mm2; do not substitute American black cherry figures.
• Colour and sapwood share decide grade; look for green streaks, canker and gum, rot and ring fractures in logs.
• Dry slowly: too fast causes warping and end checks; the one numeric schedule read (Tropix, 38 mm or less) is for information only.
• Machining and finishing are easy; test acid adhesives, and expect colour to darken with light.
• Indoor use only: durability class 3-4 in the literature, sapwood non-durable.