Cherry Veneer – The Official Red Veneer

When it comes to wood veneer, you can’t mention a reddish hue without a comparison to Cherry Veneer. And that’s if you’re not actually using Cherry, which is most often the case. But Cherry is actually more of a red-tan, a duller, but warmer red than say a bright red wood like Bloodwood Veneer.

Here are the various types of Cherry Veneer, along with characteristics and description:

Flat Cut Cherry Veneer – Probably the most popular cut, flat-cut has the characteristic cathedral style curved grain lines that flow together across the sheet. Oakwood has Flat Cut Cherry Veneer in three grades, premium, standard, and economy. These can go in areas that are high-show, medium-show and low/no-show respectively.

Quartered Cherry Veneer – Quartered grain is almost completely straight and parallel across the sheet. Quartered Cherry comes in two grades, standard and premium, for placement in no/low/medium show and high show areas respectively.

Italian Cherry Veneer – This is a special version of Cherry which is closer to tan than red. It is completely straight grained on every sheet and all sheets are matched to each other, making large jobs quite easy.

Rotary Cherry Veneer – This is somewhat similar to Rotary Red Birch, in that it has a swirly irregular figure, vaguely similar to a burl. Oakwood only carries Rotary Cherry in One-Piece Face, meaning that there are no seams in the wood, it is one complete sheet that was cut as a log continued to spin.

Ropey Cherry Veneer – This is a quilted style wood with a pillowy figure, and rope-like grain. It comes in two grades, regular and premium. Premium looks a bit more burl-like, and the grain swirl almost resemble a wavy ocean.

Rustic Planked Cherry Veneer – Rustic Cherry is hard to accurately describe because it varies a great deal from sheet to sheet, and even within the sheet. Parts of the sheet can be straight, parts wavy or curly. Some of it can be light red-tan, other parts can be a darker red-brown.