Staining Birch Plywood and solid Cherry

[Gordon Rowe]

I just finished cutting the pieces for upper corner cabinets in a small wetbar. I used birch plywood. The door stiles/rails will be solid cherry as will be two shelves between the cabinets. So far, my idea is to use something like Danish oil on the cherry to leave it natural color. This is a small area so a little contrast might be okay so perhaps the the birch ply can be done natural with clear Varathane? I sure would appreciate any suggestions on finishing this combination of material.

[keith ouellette]

The 2 times I have tried stain on birch ply i have had a hard time getting it to absorb well and it left the color kinda light. I do think it looks nice with just a little poly on it like you are planning.

Test piece. best advice I could give with my limited experience.

[Ryan Sparreboom]

Gord, I just finished a rather large project using solid cherry combined with birch ply. I used natural danish oil on the cherry, and experimented with mixing danish oils to match it. I ended up using a mix of 2/5 light walnut danish oil to 3/5 cherry danish oil and the match was as near perfect as I could ask for.
Hope this helps.

Ryan

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

One thing to remember about Cherry is that it will Darken substantially as it ages. This you will have a hard time duplicating now.

Bruce