Cherry & Blotching

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I just read Mark Schofield's article on avoiding blotching in Cherry. He says that nothing beats a wash coat of shellac.

However nowhere in his article does he speak to a water based finish. He talks about water based pre-conditioners and says they work OK sort of. But not a word about spraying on a water based finish and blotching.

I have cherry in my not to distant future and it'll mean I gotta learn to avoid blotching and how to apply a "glaze" of dark accent stain to highlight the grooves in millwork as well as imitate a WoodMode finish - not to mention their tooling which I'm sure is custom .

What do you do to avoid blotching?

[Jim Becker]

I don't avoid blotching. I embrace it..."one man's blotch is another man's figure"....

Blotching shouldn't be an issue with a water borne finish, but the cherry is also likely to be somewhat dull in color if you don't do anything to it first. I finish my furniture with water borne (Target Coatings USL), but my cherry gets BLO and then dewaxed shellac to add depth, color and interest to the wood before I spray the top coats. I never stain cherry, but I always use the oil. In your case, you could follow this regimen and after the shellac, do your glaze, followed by an additional application of de-waxed shellac as a barrier coat before your water borne finish of choice.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I don't avoid blotching. I embrace it..."one man's blotch is another man's figure"....

Huh? Really~? Really and Truly~? Fer sure~?


Blotching shouldn't be an issue with a water borne finish,Shouldn't. Huh? Well I rather suspect I'll have to find out on some of the Cherry I'll end up buying. I think I'll take a finishing run at some lumber before I get it to the final thickness so I can just pass it through the planer after I find out whether I like what I see or not.


cherry is also likely to be somewhat dull in color if you don't do anything to it first. I finish my furniture with water borne (Target Coatings USL), but my cherry gets BLO and then dewaxed shellac to add depth, color and interest to the wood before I spray the top coats.Gracias I'll give that a shot fer sure.

follow this regimen and after the shellac, do your glaze, followed by an additional application of de-waxed shellac as a barrier coat before your water borne finish of choice.

Interesting. Why do you suggest the second application of Shellac between the glaze and the top coat?

[Howard Acheson]

As I recall the article, he does not deal with top coats at all. He sort of stops at the blotch preventing stage. At that point, it will make little difference whether the top coat is oil based varnish, waterborne acrylic, shellac or lacquer. Each of these may impart some amount of overall amber color but will not cause additional blotching.

I have used his approach for years as have many finishers. A wash coat of shellac has always been the primary mode of attack for coloring wood that has a tendency to color unevenly. Once I have the wood colored or treated, I use mostly a wiped on varnish or a waterborne acrylic. The varnish will add some additional amber. If I plan to use a waterborne acrylic--which doesn't add color--I will first put on a coat of amber shellac then apply the waterborne acrylic.

I suggest you try applying a waterborne acrylic to some scrap prepared the way the author suggests. Let us know how it works.

[Jim Becker]

Interesting. Why do you suggest the second application of Shellac between the glaze and the top coat?

To insure compatibility between different finishes. Water bornes (and anything containing poly) can be finicky with adhesion. dewaxed shellac is relatively speaking a "universal" barrier coat to help with that particular issue. Even without the water borne aspect, it also insures that your subsequent finish doesn't mess up the glaze...

[Rob Cunningham]

Cliff,
Here is a link to an article on finishing cherry by Paul Snyder. There is a lot of information in it. Hopefully it will help.
http://www.furniturefinishwizard.com/cherry.htm
I agree with Jim about BLO on cherry. I think it helps bring out the color and depth of the wood.