To darken cherry should I expose to the Sun before I finish?

[Rich Engelhardt]

I have a kitchen cart I'm about ready to assemble.
It's made of cherry and cherry plywood.
I applied some wipe on poly to a piece of the plywood and it slightly turned the color.
I'm going to stick the pieces in the sunlight - but - should I do that prior to putting any of the oil based wipe on poly?

It's going into an existing cherry kitchen that's been there for a good ten years & is pretty dark.

[Jim Matthews]

My mentor uses Bichromate of Potash (very dilute) to darken Cherry.

Test pieces should be used, to check for best match.

I strongly recommend searching for Bob Flexner, the Dean of American furniture finishing.
He posts sensible approaches that last on furniture that sees real use.

[Al Weber]

I routinely "age" my cherry projects by exposing them to the sun for a period of time and always before applying finish. You could always use an oil finish to help darken it or garnet shellac as a first coat. Just remember to turn the project periodically as all surfaces require similar exposure.

[glenn bradley]

I have also used the sun-tan method to pre-darken pieces. I hot and dry SoCal I have gone back to find pieces that have cracked when I left them out too long so beware of that. Also, the match will only last as long as it lasts . . . that is; the cherry will darken at whatever rate the specific material is going to darken so a match today could be a mismatch a year from now. However, in general, I have found that new and old cherries end up pretty homogenous after a year or so. YMMV.

[Myk Rian]

Dissolve some steel wool in vinegar. Water it down to taste after tests. Brush it on the wood.
It reacts with the tannin in the wood, and darkens it.

To ebonize wood, dissolve some wine tannin in water, brush it on, let it dry, and hit it with the vinegar/iron mixture.

[Jamie Buxton]

I find that cherry sun-tans faster if it has some finish on it.

[Jim Matthews]

To ebonize wood, dissolve some wine tannin in water, brush it on, let it dry, and hit it with the vinegar/iron mixture.

That sounds simple enough.
Wine tannin from a wine bottle?

[Prashun Patel]

I wouldn't do this unless you want it black. Steel wool + vinegar will turn cherry dark grey or black - not deep red/brown as if it were sunned.

I also would not put a film finish on before tanning. Sun + heat can compromise a fresh finish. Any residual solvent in the finish will be forced through a film. It can cause blistering. I've had this happen.

You can wipe on a thin coat of BLO, but make sure you wipe it all off and check it while the piece is tanning, wiping off any spots as they are discovered. If you don't, it's not the end of the world; any gummy spots can be buffed off with mineral spirits after.

[Jamie Buxton]

...I also would not put a film finish on before tanning. Sun + heat can compromise a fresh finish. Any residual solvent in the finish will be forced through a film. It can cause blistering. I've had this happen...

I've never had trouble with this. However, I varnish with the wipe-on method, so the coats are very thin.

[eugene thomas]

Do search on using lye suppos to work but sounds like have to be carefull.

[mreza Salav]

The best method is not to use any chemicals and let the nature (Sun) works its magic.
It will darken with or without the finish.

[ron david]

use a washcoat of blo first before any other finish. make sure that you wipe it dry and top coat when dry. the sun itself will speed up the rest of the darkening. the sun does not necessarily mean heat; just as long as it is exposed to it, indirectly the cherry will darken
ron