Black cherry (Prunus serotina) in numbers: hardness, weight, strength, shrinkage, movement and decay resistance, taken from the tables of the USDA Forest Products Laboratory’s Wood Handbook, followed by what the wood is like to work and what it is used for. The values are averages from small, clear, straight-grained test specimens; real boards with knots, sloping grain or a different moisture content will differ.
| Property | Black cherry |
|---|---|
| Janka side hardness, 12% moisture | 950 lbf (4,226 N) |
| Janka side hardness, green | 660 lbf |
| Hardness rank | harder than 84 of the 168 woods with a 12% hardness value in our database |
| Density at 12% moisture | 35.0 lb/ft³ (560 kg/m³) |
| Weight per board foot (12%) | 2.91 lb |
| Specific gravity (ovendry weight, green volume) | 0.47 |
| Specific gravity at 12% moisture | 0.50 |
| Bending strength (modulus of rupture), 12% | 12,300 psi |
| Stiffness (modulus of elasticity), 12% | 1.49 million psi |
| Crushing strength (compression parallel to grain), 12% | 7,110 psi |
| Shrinkage green to ovendry: radial / tangential / volumetric | 3.7% / 7.1% / 11.5% |
| Tangential / radial shrinkage ratio | 1.92 |
| Dimensional change per 1% moisture (radial / tangential) | 0.00126 / 0.00248 |
| Impact bending (drop height to failure), 12% | 29 in. |
| Heartwood decay resistance | moderately resistant |
What it is
Black cherry (Prunus serotina), also called wild black cherry, is the only native Prunus that produces commercial lumber. It grows from southeastern Canada through the eastern half of the United States, and production is centered in the Middle Atlantic States. The heartwood varies from light to dark reddish brown with a distinctive luster and darkens markedly with light and age. The nearly white sapwood is narrow in old-growth trees and wider in second growth.
Working properties
Cherry has a fairly uniform texture and very good machining properties. It is moderately heavy, strong, stiff and moderately hard, with high shock resistance. Although its shrinkage is moderately high, the Handbook describes it as very dimensionally stable after drying. Its heartwood is moderately resistant to decay.
Weight and density
At 12% moisture content black cherry weighs about 35.0 lb per cubic foot, so one board foot (144 cubic inches) weighs about 2.91 lb. An 8 ft board of actual size 3/4 × 5-1/2 in. (a 1×6) holds 0.229 cubic feet and weighs about 8.0 lb; an 8 ft piece 1-1/2 × 3-1/2 in. (a 2×4 size) weighs about 10.2 lb. Green wood is much heavier because of the water it holds.
Density here is ovendry weight plus 12% water, divided by volume at 12% moisture content (Wood Handbook Eq. 4-12: density = specific gravity at 12% × 62.43 lb/ft³ × 1.12).
Wood movement
The Wood Handbook gives dimensional change coefficients for each species: the fraction of its width a board gains or loses for every 1% change in moisture content, between about 6% and 14%. For black cherry they are 0.00248 across a flatsawn face (tangential) and 0.00126 across a quartersawn face (radial).
Worked example: a flatsawn board 7-1/4 in. wide (a nominal 1×8) that goes from 6% moisture content in a heated winter house to 12% in a humid summer changes width by 7.25 × 0.00248 × 6 = 0.108 in. (about 3/32 in.). The same board quartersawn moves 0.055 in. (about 1/16 in.). Allow for this in panels, tabletops and floors; the wood movement calculator works it out for any size and moisture range.
How it compares
| Species | Janka (lbf) | Density (lb/ft³) | Bending (psi) | Stiffness (Mpsi) | Tangential shrink (%) | Decay resistance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black cherry | 950 | 35.0 | 12,300 | 1.49 | 7.1 | moderately resistant |
| Black walnut | 1,010 | 38.5 | 14,600 | 1.68 | 7.8 | resistant |
| Red maple | 950 | 37.8 | 13,400 | 1.64 | 8.2 | slightly or nonresistant |
| Sugar maple | 1,450 | 44.1 | 15,800 | 1.83 | 9.9 | slightly or nonresistant |
| Northern red oak | 1,290 | 44.1 | 14,300 | 1.82 | 8.6 | slightly or nonresistant |
| Yellow-poplar | 540 | 29.4 | 10,100 | 1.58 | 8.2 | slightly or nonresistant |
Uses
Furniture, fine veneer panels and architectural woodwork; caskets, wooden ware, novelties, patterns and paneling.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Janka hardness of cherry?
Black cherry averages 950 lbf (4,226 N) at 12% moisture content and 660 lbf green.
Is cherry softer than oak?
Yes. Northern red oak averages 1,290 lbf and white oak 1,360 lbf, so cherry dents more easily, which matters for floors and tabletops.
Does cherry move a lot?
Moderately. A flatsawn board changes width by about 0.248% for each 1% change in moisture content, less than the oaks and maple.
Sources
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material. General Technical Report FPL-GTR-190, 2010. Chapter 2 (species descriptions), Chapter 4 (Tables 4-3, 4-4 shrinkage; Eq. 4-7, 4-9, 4-12 density), Chapter 5 (Tables 5-3b, 5-5b strength and hardness), Chapter 13 (Table 13-5 dimensional change coefficients), Chapter 14 (Table 14-1 decay resistance)
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook, 2021 edition (FPL-GTR-282)
Last reviewed: 22 October 2026. Numbers are generated from our parsed copy of the Handbook tables, so every page uses the same data. Values marked * are estimates computed with the Handbook’s own equations. Spotted an error? Please let us know.