Quick, decent production finish for cherry...

[Clisby Clark]

I will soon need to finish a cherry kitchen. I would like to use WB products if possible. I've got some experience with WB, just not on cherry. Since I'll be finishing many pieces and time is money on this one, I'd like to have as condensed a schedule as possible while still producing an acceptable result. I'm wanting just a natural color so I'm not looking to stain, but am worried about a washed out look with with the WB finish. Any advice on schedules and particular products (Target?) is appreciated

[Scott Holmes]

Seal coat of de-waxed shellac; blonde, amber or garnet to suit your eye, then, EM6000.

[Eiji Fuller]

6000 for a kitchen? No way! If you have to go WB go with valspar zenith precat or EM8000. I like them both for a WB. I have had nothing but problems getting wb to look good.
If you do good work you might as well out a good finish on it. IMO There are no WB finishes that hold a candle to solvent based finishes in terms of depth and clarity. I don't use wb anymore because of that.

[Roger Jensen]

If you want go with WB check out the Topcoats forum on Target Coatings. There are several threads/pictures about working with cherry and the company president jumps in to answer most questions.

I was told there to use 8000cv for the kitchen, not 6000.

Roger

[Rob Cunningham]

A sealer coat of de-waxed shellac as Scott said. I would then topcoat with Either EM2000 or EM8000 from Target Coatings. The EM6000 is a good finish but the other 2 will give a warmer/solvent look. They are also more chemical resistant than EM6000.

Eiji- have you tried the EM2000 or FUHR 255?

[Jim Becker]

6000 for a kitchen? No way! If you have to go WB go with valspar zenith precat or EM8000. I like them both for a WB. I have had nothing but problems getting wb to look good.
If you do good work you might as well out a good finish on it. IMO There are no WB finishes that hold a candle to solvent based finishes in terms of depth and clarity. I don't use wb anymore because of that.

My kitchen was finished with the two generations back precursor to EM6000 and it's held up well...in fact, the one mistake I made was using a polyurethane varnish on our kitchen table as it looks like "you know what" and needs to be refinished. When I get to refinishing it, EM6000 is getting the call this time around. Aside from dings that my kids have imparted, the kitchen cabinets look super.

That said, the EM8000 and EM2000 are nice products. I've only used the latter...actually the previous generation of that when it was called Hybrivar...and it was nice, but I really get better application results with the EM6000.