Thinking of using cherry for stair treads. Any suggestions or recommendations would be great?
Dave
Thinking of using cherry for stair treads. Any suggestions or recommendations would be great?
Dave
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Replies
I've used Brazilian Cherry (Jotoba) for stair treads and I am very pleased with the results.
I don't know about how that species compares with what you might be using, but perhaps you could find some technical data on the internet to compare the two in terms of hardness value.
Suggestions and recommendations for what. Suitability, sizing, fastening, finishing, or fitting?
All of the above would be great if you have the time. This is going to be my first stair job.
Let me rephrase this I've built stair but most of these where exrterior. I have a few books
Thanks
Dave
Cherry is fine, but maybe not as hard as some other woods. I've used it myself and put rails on several cherry stairs.
Something to consider is the rail and all the other things that go with a stair. Cherry might make a great tread, but the price of a matching railing system may make it unrealistic.
Some places stock cherry rail parts some don't. It's worth looking into.
The finish also plays into the durability so it may be worth considering what finish you'll use before making a firm decision.
Make up a sample tread and place a good finich on the material and put it down and walk on it for several days to see how the surface holds up. Cherry may be a bit too soft for treads?
Just a thought before you plunk down the dough and the client becomes unhappy with the performance of a cherry treads.
Dave
We just finished a house with mostly cherry woodwork.
We used Jatoba(as someone else mentioned) for the treads and cherry for the handrail - all parts readily available.
Cherry is to soft for treads IMO but if your going to put a runner over them then it would be OK.
Doug
DougU,
Thanks for the input regarding American cherry -- I didn't know it was so much softer than Jatoba.
Cherry is on the soft end for treads, but should be fine. Use 4/5" material, glue your treads and risers with construction adhesive. The tropical woods that use the name cherry are in no way related to what we have always called cherry. They are all more dense, thus better suited for the sometimes heavy use (and abuse) a stair can take.
janka hardness rating am.cherry 950 oak 1290 bra cherry 2820
Don't...
too soft...
American Black Cherry that is...
Furrin terrorist cherry is harder...
Welcome to Breaktime
Home of
The Aristocrats
Master T
Don't what?
Use America Black Cherry?
How about the Brazilian Cherry?
if you are gonna use a brazillion ft of cherry you'd better replant some trees...
Seriously brazilian is OK
Ameerican Black cherry is too soft
Janka Hardness Scale For Wood Flooring Species
The Janka hardness test is a measurement of the force necessary to embed a .444-inch steel ball to half its diameter in wood. It is the industry standard for gauging the ability of various species to tolerate denting and normal wear, as well as being a good indication of the effort required to either nail or saw the particular wood.
Please note that this is just a partial list containing some of the most popular choices in wood flooring as well as some of the more exotic species we carry.
For a detailed description of a particular species, click on its name to view a wood flooring specification page on that type of wood.
Wood Flooring Species
Hardness
Ipe / Brazilian Walnut / Lapacho
3684
Cumaru / Brazilian Teak
3540
Ebony
3220
Brazilian Redwood / Paraju
3190
Angelim Pedra
3040
Bloodwood
2900
Red Mahogany, Turpentine
2697
Spotted Gum
2473
Brazilian Cherry / Jatoba
2350
Mesquite
2345
Santos Mahogany, Bocote, Cabreuva
2200
Pradoo
2170
Brushbox
2135
Karri
2030
Sydney Blue Gum
2023
Bubinga
1980
Cameron
1940
Tallowwood
1933
Merbau
1925
Amendoim
1912
Jarrah
1910
Purpleheart
1860
Goncalo Alves / Tigerwood
1850
Hickory / Pecan, Satinwood
1820
Afzelia / Doussie
1810
Bangkirai
1798
Rosewood
1780
African Padauk
1725
Blackwood
1720
Merbau
1712
Kempas
1710
Locust
1700
Highland Beech
1686
Wenge, Red Pine
1630
Tualang
1624
Zebrawood
1575
True Pine, Timborana
1570
Peroba
1557
Kambala
1540
Sapele / Sapelli
1510
Curupixa
1490
Sweet Birch
1470
Hard Maple / Sugar Maple
1450
Coffee Bean
1390
Natural Bamboo (represents one species)
1380
Australian Cypress
1375
White Oak
1360
Tasmanian Oak
1350
Ribbon Gum
1349
Ash (White)
1320
American Beech
1300
Red Oak (Northern)
1290
Carribean Heart Pine
1280
Yellow Birch
1260
Movingui
1230
Heart Pine
1225
Carbonized Bamboo (represents one species)
1180
Cocobolo
1136
Brazilian Eucalyptus / Rose Gum
1125
Makore
1100
Boreal
1023
Black Walnut
1010
Teak
1000
Sakura
995
Black Cherry, Imbuia
950
Boire
940
Paper Birch
910
Cedar
900
Southern Yellow Pine (Longleaf)
870
Lacewood, Leopardwood
840
Parana
780
Sycamore
770
Shedua
710
Southern Yellow Pine (Loblolly and Shortleaf)
690
Douglas Fir
660
Larch
590
Chestnut
540
Hemlock
500
White Pine
420
Basswood
410
Eastern White Pine
380Welcome to Breaktime
Home of
The Aristocrats
Dave: I compare cherry ...brazilian cherry to oak.
If you put the hardness of oak at 100...
American cherry is 60..
Brazilian cherry is 120..
Stan
Thanks for all your help on this. Going to the big city this weekend to pick up some supplies for the house and take the wife out for a nice dinner.(Anchorage) You'll have to excuse my spilling here.
I'm going to have more questions on this stairs project.
Screwed up on the newel posts, rails and balusters, I bought clear hemlock. I think I could paint the balusters but not sure how to fix the post and rails. Should I just replace them? Is it going to look like junk with the cherry stairs?
I have the post and rails in only around the top floor overlooking the stairs.
Is $5.06 a sq. foot about right for this wood? I'm in Alaska.
Dave
Edited 2/14/2007 9:46 pm ET by DaveTous
Edited 2/14/2007 11:30 pm ET by DaveTous
Screwed up on the newel posts, rails and balusters, I bought clear hemlock. I think I could piant the balusters but not sure how to fix the post and rails. Should I just replace them? Is it going to look like junk with the cherry stairs?
Dave,
Of course this is an opinion thing, but I think your stairs would look fine with one species on the treads and/or risers and another species on the handrail, newel, balusters, etc.
I predominantly use fir in my finish work (it's a regional thing with the age of houses that I work on). The fir is typically stained a dark reddish/mahogany color; I think it goes quite well with the dark red in the Jatoba. (I'm attaching a picture of Jatoba flooring next to some mahogany-stained fir to give you an idea of how it looks.)
Hemlock and fir are not all that different. I'd suggest you consider staining and topcoating some samples and see if you can come up with something you like.
As others have mentioned, cherry stair components can be quite expensive, so depending on your budget constraints, using a softwood on the upper portions might not be a bad solution.
I've also seen people use a dark paint on the newels/rails/balusters. From a distance, it kind of appears like a dark stain and doesn't look bad. However, I don't have any direct experience with it.
Thanks,
I'm going to try some stain samples first.
Is that price about right?
$5.06 a sq. foot.
Dave
$5.06 a sq. foot. Thats not a whole lot different then here in Iowa.
You should be able to stain it to match the cherry unless your staying pretty light - or natural.
Doug
Dave,
Last time I bought Jatoba it was a bit under $4 psf; but that was several years ago.
The treads I used were bullnosed and a full inch thick (not 3/4" like the common flooring). The distributor from which I bought the treads priced them by the piece (not by the square foot), and I can't really remember what they cost.
Thanks Stan
I've looked at some of your work on this forum,
really, really, nice. Would you recommend using narrower boards, glued together, or do you use full width ones?
Dave