Cherry

[Mike Conley]

I am currently in the process of finishing the Woodsmith mission style end table made out of Cherry. So far I have put one coat of Sam Maloof's Poly/Oil finish on the table but the finish is blotchy. I was aware that colored finishes could create a blotchy finish but I thought I was safe with this Poly/Oil finish. Is there anything I can do at this point the help reduce the blotchiness?

[Joe_Ott]

Cherry is good at blotching. I usually seal with a thinned version of my final finish first. But, I'm no expert.

As for what to do now, consider asking Jeff Jewitt at http://www.homesteadfinishing.com in the general forum.

Just a suggestion, not affiliated in any way.

Good luck,
Joe

[Mike Mastin]

I have not had good results using any kind of oil finish on Cherry. Some will say that its possible, but it just takes all of the shimmer and life out of the look to me.
BLO or Tung oil will certainly darken and make the color richer from the start, but I would prefer to let nature do this and I get to keep the crisp clean look with a naked shellac or lacquer finish.

[Daniel Rabinovitz]

Mike
I was just going through some the magazines and came across the American Woodwork April 2002 has a very large multi page article concerning finishing cherry.
That's all! :cool:

[Steven Wilson]

I don't know if there is anything you can do at this point. Cherry with blotch with just oil so I like to thin the oil a lot and don't flood it on; wipe some on and then wipe off fairly quickly. That said, I've found that cherry plywood blotches the worst. My normal oil concoction is a mixture of Tung Oil, Boiled Linseed Oil, and Turpentine in the ratio of 1:1:2. For cherry, I'll stretch it to 1:1:9, and for cherry plywood 1:1:20. This is just for poping the grain. After that it's on to shellac.

[William Parks]

Mike, I'm not familiar with that particular brand of finish, but it sounds like it's nothing more than a toner (poly and stain mix). I used a toner on a shaker table I made out of poplar. It blotched real bad. I asked a lady in our local wood working group who was a whizz bang on finishing what I should do. Her advice was to sand with 220 and apply 3 more coats sanding between each coat. I wouldn't have believed it but the finish turned out perfect. I can't say the same process will work for cherry, but if you have a scap piece around you might give it a try. I was so stoked when I finally rubbed that table out not to mention it was my first piece of furniture. The only drawback I find to using a toner is you loose a little of the grain showing through.

Good luck,

Bill

[Mike Conley]

It is actually a blend of boiled linseed oil, pure tung oil and polyurethane varnish.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

I think theres nothing better than a natural oil finish on cherry. The blotchies are part of the wood, and you simply have to look at them as 'shimmering character spots' instead of blotchies. I also go out of my way to include some sapwood as accent when I work cherry. Why cover up the nature of one the most beautiful woods in the world?

KC

[Mike Conley]

Picture #1 of table

[Mike Conley]

Another picture

[Mike Conley]

Another picture.

[Tim]

Hi Mike,

I just got through using that Maloof poly/oil on 6 oak cabinet doors. I love the way it came out. Obviously the oak isn't as finicky as the cherry, but I still think you're headed in the right direction. Did you wipe the finish off right away after applying it? You may want to apply and wipe smaller areas at once. Did you fully test it on a scrap (all 4 coats or whatever)? Did you see any signs of the blotching? I suspect the blotching might become less pronounced with more coats, but before you go any further I'd suggest doing a full test on scrap. If you already ran the scrap, I'd suggest making more with just the single coat so you can test our your potential solutions!

Good luck and let us know what you find out. I'd especially like to know because I like that Maloof finish and had planned to use it on a cherry table (whenever I find time for THAT project).

[Mike Conley]

I have used this finish before on a small cherry jewelry box and did not have any problems. It looked great on the small jewelry box. However, I probably did not leave it on as long on the small box before I wiped it off.

Maybe I left the finish on too long. It said on the can to leave it on for 10 minutes, so I did not wipe it off until I had applied it to the whole table.