Finishing cherry that will live like a vampire?

[Andrew Wayland]

Hello all,

I seem to have made a "fatal" error in my first real hardwood project. I've dabbled in cheap pine before, but now I've moved into big-boy stuff.

Im building a bar in my basement. Being a sucker for cherry, I went ahead and ordered all kinds of cherry plywood and boards. I didn't take into account finishing, and now I'm worried.

I'm looking for that deep reddish brown "cherry red" color. After reading, it seems that only comes with time due to sunlight exposure.

This bar will be located in a dark basement room, without any sunlight to speak of. And being in the northeast: suntanning the cherry is practically out of the question at this point (rain/snow/lack of sun).

I know staining is considered sac religious but I don't see what other choice I have? Can anybody suggest options for me? I don't want to go too crazy finishing this, and the budget won't allow for any fancy spray tools at this point.

[Dimitrios Fradelakis]

A quality gel stain will work best for cherry versus a liquid stain. A few coats of a good polyurethane will help protect the wood without the need to purchase spray equipment to apply it.

[Prashun Patel]

I would just finish it in Waterlox original dealer finish and not bother with dye or stain. Cherry looks great new or old.

[Dennis Peacock]

Andrew,
I clearly understand your budget concerns and your finishing concerns. I would use this on the "new" cherry to help give it that "old" cherry look:
TransTint #6010 RED MAHOGANY - for dark red cherry colors. Great for the "Bombay" dark mahogany look when mixed strong (1 oz. dye to 1 pint solvent).

Then you can clear coat with your finish of choice and be happy with your color. As with any "wood colorant", start lighter than you want and build to the color you do want.

[Sam Murdoch]

I would just finish it in Waterlox original dealer finish and not bother with dye or stain. Cherry looks great new or old.

Agree - and it will darken over time. Additionally staining cherry can be challenging as it can end up blotchy which is way worse (to my mind) than light. Speaking of lights - you can enhance the effect with strategically placed red lighting . It is a bar after all.

[Bill McNiel]

I did a cherry Boot Stand for a country club a few years ago that needed to match 20 year old cherry wainscoting. I wanted to age the material and did a fair amount of investigation. Options included taking the pieces to tanning salon, laying them out in the sun, staining or getting UV lights (http://www.solacure.com/ ). The guy at Solcure was very knowledgeable, informative, understanding, articulate but unfortunately I just couldn't make the numbers work for a one time use. Check out the site and give him a call, it can't hurt.

BTW-I highly recommend Charles Neil's Blotch Control before applying any finish on cherry.

[Chris Padilla]

Dense hardwoods like cherry and maple are hard to stain/dye with blotching UNLESS you spray the stain because spraying gives one a lot more control over the amount of applied stain PLUS there isn't any physical contact that a sponge, brush, rag, what-have-you provides. All that does is serve to move the stain around uncontrollably. However, adding a thinned coat of shellac (SealCoat by Zinnser is my favorite easy-to-use shellac) can help with blotching but your mileage may vary.

So with that in mind and your budget, I'd skip the staining and just clear coat it as Prashun suggested. Cherry will still darken over time as sunlight isn't the only thing that darkens it--air/oxygen does as well albeit at a much slower rate than sunlight.

[Andrew Wayland]

Oops. My first post and I already messed up by putting it in the wrong sub forum!

Sounds like users here aren't as opposed to stain as my google searches suggested most are.

I had had considered a gel stain: and it sounds like that may be an option.

I had read elsewhere that BLO is a good choice? But will that allow the color to continue darkening? And how can that be protected?

Another person recommended Spar Varnish: but I wasn't sure how well that would work.

[Bruce Page]

Andrew, welcome to SMC. I wanted the "aged" cherry look on a cradle I made for my daughter's first born. I finished the cherry with a light coat of Seal-Coat & de-natured alcohol, two coats of Bartley’s Pennsylvania Cherry gel stain and 3 coats of Bartley’s wipe-on varnish. I like the way it turned out.
I think finishing something the size of a bar would be challenging but certainly doable. It would be a good idea to do some practice pieces first.

[John TenEyck]

Transtint Brown Mahogany gives cherry a very nice aged look. However, to prevent blotching you really need to spray it on. If you can't spray I suggests either using Charles Neil's Blotch Controller first, or forget about using dye and go to a gel stain as others have recommended.

John

[Stan Calow]

Andrew, unless all the wood is from the same tree, I find it necessary to dye or stain cherry almost always, in order to even out the color differences. If you want the dark color right away, you almost have to.

[Andrew Wayland]

Agree - and it will darken over time. Additionally staining cherry can be challenging as it can end up blotchy which is way worse (to my mind) than light. Speaking of lights - you can enhance the effect with strategically placed red lighting . It is a bar after all.

Red Lights may be an option! Hahaha

I did a cherry Boot Stand for a country club a few years ago that needed to match 20 year old cherry wainscoting. I wanted to age the material and did a fair amount of investigation. Options included taking the pieces to tanning salon, laying them out in the sun, staining or getting UV lights (http://www.solacure.com/ ). The guy at Solcure was very knowledgeable, informative, understanding, articulate but unfortunately I just couldn't make the numbers work for a one time use. Check out the site and give him a call, it can't hurt.

BTW-I highly recommend Charles Neil's Blotch Control before applying any finish on cherry.

The UV lights are just a bit overkill.... although I guess I'd have a sterile basement!

The blotch control: is that a homemade concoction? Or is it available someplace? I know I've seen wood conditioners for pre-stain use (general finishes etc).

Andrew, unless all the wood is from the same tree, I find it necessary to dye or stain cherry almost always, in order to even out the color differences. If you want the dark color right away, you almost have to.

Do you have a product/technique that you recommend?

[Stan Calow]

Andrew, I've used transtint red mahogany dye on cherry, and sometimes Behlen's cherry non-grain raising dye (liquid), but I wasn't trying to match an existing piece, or get the dark deep red that people identify as cherry. I have used lye as well, but hesitate to recommend it as an option because its dangerous.

[Jim Becker]

Andrew, unless all the wood is from the same tree, I find it necessary to dye or stain cherry almost always, in order to even out the color differences. If you want the dark color right away, you almost have to.

This is where something I've said many times comes into play...the first step in finishing is when you initially choose your material. It's absolutely true that cherry (and any other species) will vary tree to tree, so I'm always careful when I'm at the "candy store" to take a lot of time to select boards that are relatively consistent in color and grain pattern so that the end result works well. Obviously, having larger, well stocked suppliers helps with that a great deal, especially if they will allow you to examine every potential board carefully and side by side.
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OP, it's possible to "instantly age" cherry chemically, but that comes with it's own challenges just like dying the material does. The good news is that UV from sunlight isn't the only thing that causes cherry to darken...simple oxidation is still at work. I typically oil the cherry as a first step which provides a little darkening in itself and that's followed by de-waxed shellac to seal it (and darker shades of shellac can help here, too) before I use a water borne finish for top coating. It still darkens nicely...it just takes a little longer.

[Lee Schierer]

I would just finish it in Waterlox original dealer finish and not bother with dye or stain. Cherry looks great new or old.

I agree, cherry will darken with age anyway. If you want it a bit darker to start use some Watco Clear danish oil and then finish with whatever else you had planned. Try your finish on some scraps before doing the whole project.