CHERRY, Best way to FINISH for Natural Look?!

[Jerry Olexa]

Just bougth 60 bft and ready to start glue up, etc for my first project with CHERRY. What do you guys think is the BEST way to finish cherry to show-off its beautiful (I think) natural color? I've read some of the earlier threads but still would value your expert opinions!!Im thinking BLO or a mixture and then dewaxwd shellac followed by a sealer. I may pre finish some pieces to avoid gluesplotching Love to know your thoughts before I start glue-up !! Thanks Jerry

[Jim Becker]

Suggest you look at Steve Mickley's comments on finishing cherry. I have found his regimen to be spot on for a nice natural look.

http://johnjacobmickley.net/Shop%20Pages/Tips%20&%20Info/Finishing/Finishing_Cherry.htm

What I do, however, depends on the piece. Sometimes I just use BLO and wax. Sometimes I start with the BLO and follow with garnet shellac and sometimes I goe beyond that with waterborne acrylic lacquer (Target Coatings) when I need a protective clear finish. They all look just the way I like cherry...natural.

[Ed Falis]

Thanks for that one, Jim. Will have to try it out.

- Ed

[Jerry Olexa]

Jim thank you. That is a GREAT, informative website. I've also heard opinions that favor a mixture of BLO w Turp w wax and some favor Danish oil, I imagine not as effective in getting the natural look of Cherry that I want. I'm thinking of using a dewaxed shellac as precoat before final topcoat. Is garnet available dewaxed? Do you buy it dry and mix your own? Whats your take on these other methods? As always, thanks for your accurate, timely feedbacks. Jerry

[Mark Singer]

"Tried and True" 3 coats...Lee Valley has it.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=45105&category=1,190,42942&ccurrency=2&SID=

Use the Original formula

[Jim Becker]

Is garnet available dewaxed? Do you buy it dry and mix your own?
Garnet shellac flakes are available dewaxed...I last purchased from Jeff Jewitt (HomesteadFinishing.com) However, garnet is very hard to get right now due to the time of the year it is. Nothing is coming in from the bulk suppliers. Steve's solution, based on a current thread at WOOD Online, is to add a little brown alcohol soluable dye to a lighter grade to emulate the garnet until it's available again. Mixing from flakes is the best way to work with shellac. Flakes will store "forever"; disolved shellac has a relatively short shelf life. A small, cheap coffee grinder (check yard sales or flea markets first) to pulverize the flakes before mixing is a good investment as it will help the material disolve faster. The only time I use pre-mixed shellac is for something like drawer boxes where I really don't care about waxed or dewaxed...I want quick and easy.

Steve has additional finishing notes at:
http://johnjacobmickley.net/Shop%20Pages/Finishing%20Frame.htm

As to Mark's suggestion of Tried and True, it's a good finish, although more expensive than "regular" BLO. I like and use the two BLO fomulas but don't particularly like the Varnish oil formula. The BLO/wax combo is what I like to use for decorative items, especially things made of cherry. I usually heat the material to about 135º in a water bath before application to make it flow and penetrate easier...T&T is very thick since it uses a polymerization process, rather than metalic dryers, to make it ready to cure.

[David Rose]

Jim, why do you "not particularly like" the Varnish/Oil from T&T? Is it the gloss or the reputed slow drying?

David


Garnet shellac flakes are available dewaxed...I last purchased from Jeff Jewitt (HomesteadFinishing.com) However, garnet is very hard to get right now due to the time of the year it is. Nothing is coming in from the bulk suppliers. Steve's solution, based on a current thread at WOOD Online, is to add a little brown alcohol soluable dye to a lighter grade to emulate the garnet until it's available again. Mixing from flakes is the best way to work with shellac. Flakes will store "forever"; disolved shellac has a relatively short shelf life. A small, cheap coffee grinder (check yard sales or flea markets first) to pulverize the flakes before mixing is a good investment as it will help the material disolve faster. The only time I use pre-mixed shellac is for something like drawer boxes where I really don't care about waxed or dewaxed...I want quick and easy.

Steve has additional finishing notes at:
http://johnjacobmickley.net/Shop%20Pages/Finishing%20Frame.htm

As to Mark's suggestion of Tried and True, it's a good finish, although more expensive than "regular" BLO. I like and use the two BLO fomulas but don't particularly like the Varnish oil formula. The BLO/wax combo is what I like to use for decorative items, especially things made of cherry. I usually heat the material to about 135º in a water bath before application to make it flow and penetrate easier...T&T is very thick since it uses a polymerization process, rather than metalic dryers, to make it ready to cure.

[Jim Becker]

Jim, why do you "not particularly like" the Varnish/Oil from T&T? Is it the gloss or the reputed slow drying?
I just like the finish I get from the other formulas better...personal preference only. Drying time really doesn't matter to me...and it's to be expected that T&T might take longer to cure in some circumstances because it relies on the polymerization rather than metalic driers for that process.

[Nick Tuzzolino]

Just finished a desk and used several coats of wipe on poly followed by two coats of Minwax paste wax. Natural as can be.

[Bob Powers]

As the expression "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" goes, so goes the expression "natural is in the eye of the beholder." All of the recommendations (well almost all) for finishes for cherry make sense, but the final results are quite different. I like cherry, therefore my house is full of it. As I look around the house, I see cherry finished with garnet shellac only, a method I learned from Stickley as used on their Cherry Valley furniture from 50 years ago. It's fine so long as you don't spill any wine on it. Also, it looks quite orange in color until the sunlight darkens it. I see a trestle table on our enclosed back porch which has nothing but a waterborne finish on it, but is subjected to quite a lot of natural light. It's beautiful, but looks very little like the garnet shellac finish. In the living room is a chest finished with Watco Danish Oil and clear shellac on the front and sides, oil, shellac and alkyd resin varnish on the top. Spectacular!

Let's try again. Natural is in the eye of the beholder. Buy some shellac, (clear and orange) some alkyd varnish, some oil finish, including Tried and True, and some waterborne finish. Take an hour or two to make some samples. The one you like best is natural.

[Ed Marks]

I've become a bit partial to Bartley's Gel Varnish on Cherry. It goes on easily and since it is a gel it does not absorb as fast as normal wiping varnish. This seems to eliminate most of the bloching that can happen when finishing Cherry. I have used it over well cured oil and just directly on the wood. It takes 3-4 coats to "get going" and then it's up to you how much further to go. I usually go to about everywhere and up to 7-8 on table surfaces or other parts that might take a beating. The wait time between coats is only 6 hrs so it's not as time intensive as it seems. Here is a peice that was done with Bartleys directly on the wood after sanding to 220:

http://users.adelphia.net/~emarks/Furniture/print/3.jpg

I've also used 3 part solutuions when I don't want the sheen that comes with varnish. 1/3rd BLO, 1/3rd Satin Poly (Zip Guard is what I usually use but others are OK), and 1/3rd turnpentine works well. A few coats and a coat of paste wax gives a nice finish that does not "shine".

The process at the site Jim pointed to makes a lot of sense as well. I was thinking that it would work nice on something where the intention was to build up a finish and then rub it out.

Have fun with the Cherry. It's my favorite wood to work with.

[Russ Filtz]

Anything wrong with pure tung mixed with spirits and poly? That's pretty natural, yet will pop the grain as any oil will. Will tung cause the dreaded blotching? or is that only with stains?

[Jim Becker]

Tung oil and BLO should give similar performance...but Tung normally takes longer to cure and you MUST let it fully cure before you over coat it with anything if you use it by itself. I've never used it in combination with other things. Many pros consider it a waste of money since you can't tell the difference between cheap BLO from the 'borg and expensive pure tung oil.

BTW, relative, to "blotching", what folks describe with that term is just the way that the figure of certain woods absorb oil and colors at different rates. The more figure you have, the more you will get the effect, most particularly to closed grain woods such as cherry and maple. Personally, it doesn't bother me one bit, but many folks prefer an even coloration. If you are in the latter catagory, any oil or stain will likely give you consternation. BLO, Tung, it doesn't matter. They will absorb at different rates when figure is involved.