Cherry Finish

[jack dempsey]

Hello,
Looking for advice on applying finish to a small Cherry box. The predominate wood is cherry with Walnut accents. I am contemplating applying 1 or 2 coats of boiled linseed oil then following up with a beeswax finish once the boiled linseed oil is dry. I would appreciate advice if anyone has used this approach. Thanks, Jack

[roger wiegand]

I'm sure it will be great. I mostly finish cherry with Arm R Seal. I just did some cutting boards for some crunchy granola types and did a first coat of pure tung oil then a beeswax/mineral oil blend. It looks wonderful.

[Jim Becker]

For your application, that would be a great finish....somewhat traditional, even.

[John TenEyck]

I do not like BLO on cherry as it is prone to blotching. I would opt for shellac or rattle can lacquer, or just wax. My 2 cents.

John

[Rob Luter]

Cherry and Walnut make a great combination. I'm a fan of natural finishes. The box below is natural Watco Danish oil and wax.

[Art Mann]

Watco Danish Oil has varnish in it. That isn't exactly "natural" but it looks nice.

[jack dempsey]

Thanks for the comments and advice. I am leaning towards the BLO and then wax. I am concerned about the possibility of blotching of the cherry though. I am hoping for the best. I am wondering if I should go the shellac route.

[jack dempsey]

Rob, The box I am making is similar to yours. The one I am making is cherry with a walnut frame for the lid. I hope it comes out as nice as yours.

[Stan Calow]

jack, one way to do it is to melt the wax into warm BLO and apply the gel-like mixture. You have to use a double boiler technique so as not to set the oil on fire. This way, it gives a deep rich feel to the wood without the waxy surface. I always think of wax as a temporary surface coating, mostly rubbed off, not as a finish by itself.

When I've done some cherry boxes, I like to sand them way up to 1200-1500 grit or the max I can find, just to enhance that hand feel and reduce blotch opportunity.

[jack dempsey]

Stan,
Thanks for the advice. I may experiment with the technique you described. Jack

[Rob Luter]

I'll second Stan's suggestion of sanding to finer grits. I read an article by Chris Becksvoort where he advocates doing so to reduce blotching. I don't go quite that fine but finer does make a difference.

[Stan Calow]

Forgot to say, I use beeswax, bought from a local bee-keeper at the farmers market, to melt into the BLO. I've used paraffin wax for canning as well, even a chunk of ski wax. I'm not sure how softer canned wax would work, but probably OK.

[Robert Engel]

I’ve had good luck with danish oil followed by wax. BLO is good, but can take a while to dry.

If using oil don’t sand past 150.

[Jim Becker]

If using oil don’t sand past 150.

Just the opposite...an oil or oil and wax finish, especially on a close grained species like cherry and maple, will greatly benefit from sanding to even extreme fine abrasives. The finish will be silky smooth. I go to 600 or 800 for an oil finish.

[Mike Monroe]

I agree with Jim on this one, though my fingers tell me sanding to 220 is smooth enough for an oil finish or maybe I'm just lazy.