"Cherrywood"

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dkeller_nc

Well-known member
Hey guys - this is a bit off-topic, but does anyone else find the habit of antique dealers/appraisers/auctioneers habit of appending "wood" onto the end of "cherry" in a description annoying?  I notice that it seems only to be done with cherry and/or apple - no one seems to use the term "mahoganywood" or "pinewood".

Do the folks using "cherrywood" really think that the buying public will otherwise think the piece is made with the fruit of the cherry?  ;)
 
LOL, my apologies as well cuz I have been known to use that term  in describing pieces made from cherry, I guess because  dealers/auctioneers use the term "cherrywood" as well. In future I will try and avoid that term as i was unaware it might be annoying.
 
I thought I was the only one.  It is extremely annoying and just does not seem to make any sense.  It seems to be a fairly recent term as I do not remember it 20-30 years ago when I worked in the antiques business.
 
LOL, Those dang antiquers!!! Whats wrong with em!!!

This is wayyyyyyyyyyyy off thread but it is dead funny and sad at the same time. It's an ad by an american drug company and was shown on canadian TV last year. If anyone needs evidence on the trouble the american antique industry is in, HERE IT IS!

http://adland.tv/commercials/viagra-antique-2009-15-canada
 
I think it is even worse than you are describing; I am finding those in the retail furniture trade using the term "Cherrywood" almost as a generic tradename for any lesser wood stained red; which to my eye, cherry is not.

Karl
 
I think the issue arose when auctioneers couldn't differentiate between provincial pieces made from apple, cherry, damson, pear, plum etc. and lumped them together as 'fruitwood' which is probably fair enough ? if you're timber identification skills are wanting.

I think it was then a natural progression when separating those timbers to retain the suffix 'wood'. I've often seen auction, and factory-produced furniture catalogue descriptions of furniture made from 'apple wood', 'cherry wood', 'pear wood' and 'yew wood'. In my experience, people who know furniture and timber don't use the suffix.

I wonder if my Volvo is made from 'steel metal' and 'aluminium metal'.
 
"I wonder if my Volvo is made from 'steel metal' and 'aluminium metal'"

Hah!  Yeah, that pretty much distills my (mild) annoyance at antique dealers/appraisers/auctioneers appending "wood" to "cherry".  Sad thing is, even the Keno brothers (that know a lot more about woodworking than your average dealer) use the term "cherrywood".  Kind of wonder whether we could write a letter signed by the SAPFM executive comittee to Leigh/Leslie asking them to take the lead on abolishing the term.....
 
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