# Black Lines on Cherry



## DrysdaleWoodworking (Oct 14, 2018)

I have some cherry I'm working with and throughout the board it has black lines (see photo). I have not worked with cherry a lot yet, so I'm not sure if this is just part of the normal figure of cherry, or something else? It is being used for a charcuterie board, so would it be food safe to use a board with this on it?


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## ArtMann (Mar 1, 2016)

The dark streaks are sometimes called gum pockets and they are natural to the wood. Some people call them flaws but other people think they are attractive or add character to a project. In any case, they are part of the wood and will not contaminate food.


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## pontic (Sep 25, 2016)

I like them. Yes they are food safe.


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## msinc (Jan 8, 2017)

You might be lucky to have them appear as lines or otherwise like they do….the ones I have in my cherry wood look like big black blobs of some type of oil got dripped on the wood and it wont come off….


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## DrysdaleWoodworking (Oct 14, 2018)

Thank you for the feedback! After some further research I thought they may be gum pockets, but nowhere could I find whether they were food safe.


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## bilyo (May 20, 2015)

I bought a few hundred BF of rough cherry a few years ago. Several planks had a lot of these "pitchy" streaks in very interesting patterns. I resawed these planks into veneer and used it for drawer fronts and other exposed surfaces. I think it worked out pretty well:


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