Who here stains Cherry??

[Matthew Curtis]

I am currently working on a chest made out ouf solid cherry. I was wondering how many of you stain you cherry projects? I did a wine cabinet a while back and staind it pretty dark. It turned out ok, a couple of blochy spots on the back.


What have you all tried?

Thanks

[Sean Hughto]

It's a matter of personal preference, and personally I don't think cherry needs any enhancement other than maybe some oil, varnish, or shallac. It ages beautifully on exposure to light and air.

[Roger Jensen]

Lots of threads on this forum and others about cherry. Flexner had an article a few months ago in PWW.

I don't know if there is a consensus, but BLO followed by some kind of topcoat seems to be quite popular.

If you're spraying I recommend Target Coatings. Go to their user forum and search for 'cherry finishing schedule' or just 'cherry' you'll seem some popular schedules.

I like to tone it with colored shellac after the BLO to get a little color control to make it consistent, but that is personal preference. Of course it will darken with time and sunlight.

Roger

[Robert Parrish]

I use a wipe on gel stain from Bartleys. Never had a problem with it.

[Roger Jensen]

Woodsmith uses a gel stain mixture on all of their cherry furniture. Here is an excerpt from one of their articles:


WOODSMITH CHERRY STAIN
• Combine 3 parts Zar Cherry Stain with 1 part Jel’d Cherry Stain.
• Stir or shake until the mixture is creamy and free of lumps.
• Wipe on



I tried it, but liked BLO better.


Roger

[Scott Holmes]

I know of no wood that ages more dramatically nor more beautifully than cherry.

Why hide that beauty with any type of pigment stain?

Matching sapwood now; is about just about a guarantee not to match later.

[Thomas Pender]

I use a WATCO natural or even, Heaven Forfend, Minwax natural after the cherry sits in the sun for a while. (Not sure if this is really "staining.") Then I let it dry for a week and put Target EM6000 (or predecessor) or Minwax Polyacylic on it. I think it looks super. It still turns more redish with time and ends up with almost an oxblood color. I was in my sister-in-law's house over the weekend and I have done two pieces for her - one a mission oak and the other a cherry hall tree. The hall tree is exposed to the sun and when I saw it, it just looked really good - it surprised me how well it has aged and I used the exact method on it I mention above.

Best way to avoid the blotch is to use dewaxed shellac (Zissner is fine) and then BLO or a natural finish - it works for me and I use lots of curly cherry because I like it - in fact I am trying to finish a desk now (for SWMBO) and the top has quarter sawn cherry on the right and left with one curly cherry board in the middle - it shows some promise. Hope to be able to post it when I get done. (BTW - QS cherry is lovely as well.)

[Bob Wingard]

Last Cherry piece I made was a Federal Style bookcase for my DIL as a Christmas present. I started out with 2 coats of WATCO NATURAL .. followed by another coat of WATCO with just a little bit of MINWAX RED MAHOGANY stain mixed in to give the color a little kickstart. Followed that with a few coats of TRIED & TRUE VARNISH OIL and finished it off with several coats of MINWAX ANTIQUE OIL FINISH and finally a rubdown with steel wool and MINWAX DARK FURNITURE WAX. One reason I chose the MINWAX RED MAHOGANY stain id that is has no pigment. That particular color is a dye only.

She was thrilled with the color/finish, and she knows it is going to darken/deepen over time. I built a few more of those bookcases about 8-9 years ago with a similar finishing schedule, and they look GREAT today.

[Christopher Pine]

It's a matter of personal preference, and personally I don't think cherry needs any enhancement other than maybe some oil, varnish, or shallac. It ages beautifully on exposure to light and air.

Couldn't agree with Sean more! It is like blasphemy to stain cherry!

Just my opinion.
Chris

[Mark Patoka]

I only stain it if the customer requests it. Most of the time it ends up being a Red Mahogany dye or stain so it matches another piece of "cherry" furniture they bought. Thanks to furniture manufacturers, many people don't know what true cherry looks like, they think it is that deep red obtained by dyes and toners.

Personnally, cherry needs to be left natural and enhanced by using BLO or natural oil finishes. WOOD did an article a few years ago showing how cherry aged on previous projects - when first built and something like 5 years later. Boards that weren't from the same tree or just not matched well really aged differently and made some pieces look like they were made with different color pieces of wood.

[Phil Phelps]

Can't see anything but a clear coat. Years ago someone wanted a stain and I tinted the lacquer. Worked okay. Never saw it again.

[mike holden]

Matt,
You should always make a sample board and let the client choose the finish.
Mike

138295

[Pete McMahon]

Couldn't agree with Sean more! It is like blasphemy to stain cherry!

Just my opinion.
Chris

Just to look at the other side of the spectrum or be the devils advocate (depending on how the purists see it) cherry is one of my favorite woods to color. I'm not talking about thick pigmented stains but with dyes or by chemical reaction.
This is a useful skill when blending two naturally different colored boards like drawer fronts. I've done that to a cherry highboy and contrary to some, the color has remained stable. In other words you don't know it has been altered.

[Jeff Monson]

This schedule was suggested to me by an old creek member, I've used it on every cherry project since.

1.BLO
2.Amber Shellace
3.Top coat (usually laquer in my case)

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Not all cherry blotches. Wipe your project with a solvent like naptha or mineral spirit or acetone. Look as you wipe and see if blotches show up. If they do, stain will also create blotches. Professional finishers get past the problem by using either highly pigmented stains (I call them paint) that mutes the grain so badly all the blotching is covered or they use toners in their top coat that also hide the grain. Look at a cherry kitchen at the borg sometime and find a drawer or door that has chipped. The color will be gone. That tells you the color was in the top coat.
If you determine your cherry will blotch, your good choices are: seal the grain with shellac then apply a gel stain or leave it natural and merely top coat. Remember, any topcoat made to soak into the wood can blotch since the end grain apparent on the surface will soak up more oil than the sides of the adjacent cells. That's what causes blotches. It's funny, the more effervescent the appearance of the grain, the more we perceive it as beautiful and the more likely it is to blotch. Maybe that's nature's way of telling us not to mess with it's beauty.
fmr

[Gary Herrmann]

Sometimes my wife insists...

:(

[Jerry Olexa]

My schedule for cherry:

BLO
Garnet Shellac (padded)
Top coat if desired (heavy use etc)

Cherry ages beautifully. The BLO/Shellac regimen works well!!!

[Bob Wingard]

This isn't really a "stain", but here's some pics of a Cherry Bookcase that had a weak lye solution applied then top coated with several thinned coats of Waterlox.

[James Ogle]

I use potassium dichromate to color cherry. Applied until I like the color. For regular stock I then top coat with 3 coats of amber shellac and a coat of varnish. For highly figured peices I will wipe on two coats of BLO, then the shellac, and then the varnish.

[Jim Becker]

"Never".....ok, I did once and it was dye, not a typical stain. The end result was fine, but frankly, unnecessary. But that was a long time ago...

[Glen Butler]

I was a little upset when the customer requested a stain on these stairs. But once it was on I really liked it. If I had been using premium cherry instead of knotty perhaps my view would be different but I like that the hint of stain got rid of the overly pink color and I think it really richened it up. I guess I am in the minority. This is 4 parts natural stain to 1 part early american.

[George Palmer]

I have had success using gel stain after first applying a coat of thinned shellac. I have not experienced any blotching with this method. I agree with several others that cherry is beautiful when left to darken naturally however, staining is a good way to even out mismatched colors shades within the boards used in a project.
George