Finishing Cherry

[Scott Thornton]

Can anyone make a recommendation for me?

What do you use if you want to add color? These are for tabletops?

What do you use if you want to leave it natural?

Can you mix stain with BLO?

Thanks.

[Corey Hallagan]

I have never stained cherry or seen anyone add stain to BLO. I use BLO or other oil finishes such as tung oil or a home brew tung oil varnish. Cherry will darken naturally with age. You can accelerate it buy applying BLO and letting it bake in the warm sun some. Hope this helps,
Corey

[Scott Thornton]

Do you add a poly or hardener on top of the blo? What brand of blo do you recommend?

Thanks.

[Joe Chritz]

I have stained cherry when we did a kitchen for a friend of mine.

Personally I don't like stain on Cherry and would opt for BLO to bring out the natural grain, let it dry for a week or so then your choice of top coat.

I use Target's USL for almost everything. Cherry would get a sealcoat of dewaxed shellac and a couple coats of USL.

Waterlox looks very nice on cherry as well.

My $.02 which is most likely worth much less.

Joe

[Corey Hallagan]

Scott, never payed much attention to the brand names on BLO so I can't recommend any one brand. I think what I have is Watco. I have used a poly varnish mixed 1/3 of minieral spirits, BLO or Tung Oil and minwax poly. It makes a nice wipe on finish. Waterlux is a nice high gloss finish when done. It is a tung oil based finish as well.

corey

[Jim Becker]

My normal finishing regimen with cherry is BLO followed by de-waxed garnet shellac, followed by your choice of top-coat, if any. I don't color cherry...it's beautiful just the way it is and will be over time in my eyes.

[Rob Diz]

I recently made two "cigarette tables" out of some extra cherry recently and did a little test. First, I sat both outside in the sun, so that they had a bit of sun. Then I took one of the tables and applied BLO (well actually my kids did this one - it was a good thing to practice with) and let it sit until the following weekend. They I padded on garnet shellac on both pieces, with the final treatment nothing but alcohol. The wood on these pieces would not see much abuse, and with the shellac, any nicks can be quickly patched.

They have now been in my living room for about 9 months, each with an equal amount of light. Frankly, I cannot tell much of a difference in color between the two. I do find that the detail in the cayotence (sp?) is a bit muted in the one where I used BLO.

I subsequently made a cherry sofa table. I gave it a bit of suntan, then padded on a light wash coat of garnet shellac for color, then wiped on Waterlox. The finish on that piece is really remarkable. The finish really makes the bookmatched 9 inch qulited cherry boards on top really pop. If I had to do it over again, I would do it the same way and skip the BLO. The depth and clarity of the wood is really impressive. With a light on the table, the piece really stands out. For me, BLO doesn't really add anything other than an oily step and a few days (minimum) drying time.

You may also want to do a search on Woodnet. I recall a string a while ago where there were side by side boards treated with various topcoats.

In the end, for me, BLO cuts some of the clarity of the wood and adds another step. Others, of course, really love the stuff.

[Jerry Olexa]

IMHO, BLO pops the grain a lot in cherry and enhances it!! It never fails to impress me each time I coat w BLO to see the dramatic improvement in the wood quality. It's worth the extra few days drying time. Just my opinion, but I love the wonderful effect of oil on cherry prior to topcoat. I usually also topcoat w dewaxed garnett shellac from flakes...My 2 cents!

[Jeff Monson]

Tod Evans recemmonded me a great finish for cherry, blo followed by amber shellac and then a topcoat, in my case it was sprayed laquer. I would never stain cherry, I think any process using blo will give you a nice result. My cherry project gets more beutiful every week.

[Nancy Laird]

Scott, our preferred method of finishing cherry is just a clear sprayed lacquer over sanding sealer. No stain, no BLO, just clear sprayed lacquer. The cherry will darken over time and any stain you put on it is going to darken it at once. The grain will pop with the lacquer, particularly with the sanding sealer as the first coat.

I suggest that you get some scrap and try each of these methods and see which one you like best, and go that route. You will be the final decision-maker on how you finish your table.

Check with your supplier, you MAY be able to add a tint or dye to clear lacquer to add some color. We were able to do so to finish some MDF (long story, best not revealed).

Nancy

[Larry Fox]

For my current project, a couple of seal coats of blonde shellac followed by some Target Coatings WB shellac in Golden Red followed by Target's Conversion Varnish. Looks great in my opinion. I have seen cherry look wonderful with BLO and I have seen it look like a blotchy mess - I suggest testing on some scrap. I don't care at all for the blotches that sometimes appear in cherry so I opted to go alcohol shellac as a sealer and forego the oil - just my opinion though.

One things to be aware of if you want it to darken natrually is any UV blockers that might be in your topcoat. I am pretty sure that Target has it in their USL and Conversion Varnish which will obviously have an effect on the aging process but I suggest you ask Jeff Weiss at Target if you are considering their products to verify.

For a tabletop you will want something durable (read Target EM8000 for a WB product). If it will see any alcohol exposure (beer, wine, etc) don't go with straight shellac as a top coat - seal coat is fine but not as a top coat in that case.

Yet another option - I found this link on Target's forum and this person did a simply wonderful job on this piece. I think he even provides the recipe / schedule for the finish.

http://www.morningwoodworks.com/gallery2/v/cherry_entertainment_center/

Hope it helps . . .

Larry

PM me if you are interested in seeing pictures of the finish that schedule above produces.

BTW: I have no interest (financial or otherwise) in recommending Target;s products - I am just really fond of their products and had great results with them.

[Scott Thornton]

Thanks for everyone's replies...

A couple questions on technique...

What grit should I sand to before finishing?
How do you get the surface to be smooth when you run your hand over it?
Do you sand in between coats? I've never quite understood this...If I apply a protectant, such as poly, wiped on...do I need to do anything in between coats?

I really appreciate your help and education on this matter...

[Doug Shepard]

Thanks for everyone's replies...

A couple questions on technique...

What grit should I sand to before finishing?
How do you get the surface to be smooth when you run your hand over it?
Do you sand in between coats? I've never quite understood this...If I apply a protectant, such as poly, wiped on...do I need to do anything in between coats?

I really appreciate your help and education on this matter...

The wipe on stuff is pretty thin so don't do too much sanding or you may blow through the finish layer. I usually end up with around 6-7 coats of the wipe-on. After each coat is dry, unless I can feel some grit that got into that coat, I usually wait and sand between every other coat if both are applied the same day. I think the finish can will probably say 220 grit between coats, but I'm leery of sanding through the finish so I usually opt for 400 or 600 wet-dry paper. All you need to do is scuff it lightly and have it remove any dust nibs that got into the finish. Lots of other folks swear by the 3M synthetic pads instead of sandpaper. Tack it off or wiope down with a clean rag and mineral spirits after sanding. After the last coat has cured for a week or more, lightly rub it out with Behlens Deluxing Compound or automotive rubbing compound and it will be smooth as glass.