I've found that in freshly planed cherry, the sapwood is sometimes hard to
tell from the heartwood. They're both pretty light in color - particularly
in kiln dried lumber. I've built pieces that I thought were all heart only
to see the aging process expose the sapwood. The sapwood will NOT darken
anywhere near the color the heartwood will over time - in my experience the
aging proces of cherry just makes the sapwood more noticeable.
If you're not sure you have sapwood in a piece, expose it to sun for a few
days and you'll see some noticable color differentiations. In flatsawn
lumber, the sapwood is sometimes confined to just one face of the board and
some careful use of the board may hide it.
You can often do some nice things with sapwood by carefully incorporating it
into the design of the piece. I've seen some beautiful designs that really
highlight the difference between heartwood and sapwood coloration.

My 2 cents - Gary in KC


"toller" wrote in message
...
I bought some curly cherry at a lumberyard about 3 hours away.

After planing I find one piece is significantly lighter. I am pretty sure
it
is heartwood like the rest; it is just lighter. I don't have enough wood
to
not use it, and sure don't like the idea of a full days trip to pick up
one
more piece. (sure, I should have bought a surplus, but the stuff is
expensive!)

Should I expect it to get closer to the rest over time, or will it remain
lighter. I could put a light stain on it (I have done that with walnut
sapwood) but don't want to if it will blend naturally.

Thanks.