I've seldom found chunks of cherry large enough for a stock unless it is Eastern cherry , which is very straight grained and fairly plain, which is why it is usually used for furniture. The few Western cherry blanks I've seen with figure were very nice but a bit heavy for my taste. Since most Western cherry is grown wild, it is unusual to find a large enough one for stocks or a trunk that hasn't rotted, cracked, or had some kind of disease before it gets large enough for a stock so most of the cherry stocks I see around here are laminated pieces.
Bob
I have several hundred board feet of spectacular, highly-figured eastern cherry, 8/4 and kiln-dried though. From the same tree I have a bunch more 4/4 also and some of both thicknesses run up to 28" wide and they are 12" long IIRC. Hanging out at Amish sawmills will find you all the fancy cherry you could hope to use in a lifetime for dirt cheap... and the time to dry it.
