finishing Cherry w/Shellac

[Howie French]

I am finishing a cherry cabinet, I just tried Zinsser's canned amber shellac, I used a 2# cut. It is way to orange for my taste, robbing the cherry of it's natural beauty. Would a blond shellac be recommended for a more natural
color ? I think I am going to try using shellac flakes this time around.

What would you recommend, knowing I want just the natural color of the cherry ?


Howie

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Howie......Have you tried Zinser's Sealcoat? It's a dewaxed shellac. While I've not used it on cherry, I've used it on a lot of other woods and haven't noticed it changing the color of the original wood.

[Doug Shepard]

I'd echo Kens suggestion of using the Sealcoat. It's either a blonde or superblonde shellac and beats having to mix up flakes. Keep in mind that the cherry is going to darken over time anyway. The tables on these two were BLO, then superblonde shellac (flakes), then wipe-on poly. I couldn't really tell any difference in the color after putting the shellac over the BLO (or the poly either for that matter) but I'm sure there's at least some ambering. Most of the color on these is from the BLO. They've both darkened up a tiny bit more but are essentially the same color. Neither is exposed to direct sunlight coming through windows otherwise I'm sure they'd be quite a bit darker now.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=15882
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=15693

[Jerry Olexa]

A good combo that has worked for me on cherry is BLO followed by GARNET dewaxed shellac (more brown tone). Pretty natural look.

[Jim DeLaney]

A good combo that has worked for me on cherry is BLO followed by GARNET dewaxed shellac (more brown tone). Pretty natural look.

I leave out the BLO, and just use the garnet shellac. It 'pops the grain' quite well by itself.

[Howie French]

I am curious what the coloring difference would be between Zinsser's Sealcoat and GARNET dewaxed shellac. I am happy with the natural coloring of cherry with BLO alone, I am just looking for more protection.


Howie

[Steven Wilson]

There are a few different shellacs that look good. My favorites are in descending order are;

Kusmi I
Kusmi II
Garnet first coat, Kusmi I or Orange second coat
Orange (one coat)

For the finish coats I use a blonde or lemmon (slightly yellow) shellac. I will often add a wee bit of Transtint Med-Brown or Red-Brown dye to the base coats of shellac, warms it up nicely depending on the particular piece of cherry. As for using a coat of BLO first, I like to use a mixture of BLO:TungOil:Turpentine in the mixture of 1:1:3 to 1:1:9 . Just apply a fairly thin coat, wipe off, and let dry for a day.

[Scott Thornton]

I obtained a nice natural finish on some tables I just completed. I got my recommendation from homestead finishes (the man)...

It was really simple. I used a dark garnet dewaxed shellac (flakes). Before using the shellac, I wiped the entire surface with distilled water and sanded slightly after dry. I then applied the shellac. After several coats (didn't change the color too much, just added some consistancy across the wood), I applied some coats of brush on varnish. The table has a nice color and is darkening more each week. The finish looks several inches deep and is a mirror like finish.

The whole process was rather simple. In the end, all that matters is what you like (or in my case, my wife!).

[John Timberlake]

I did a set of bookcases where the only finish on the cherry was garnet shellac. Looks just like it has aged a few years. I have also used garnet shellac followed by a gel stain for when my wife wanted it darker. I never put anything on cherry before the first coat of shellac.

[Jerry Olexa]

I am curious what the coloring difference would be between Zinsser's Sealcoat and GARNET dewaxed shellac. I am happy with the natural coloring of cherry with BLO alone, I am just looking for more protection.


Howie

Garnett would be a darker (brownish) tone compared to SealCoat.

[Mark Hudson]

forgive me for the newbie question, but what exactly is BLO?

[Jim Becker]

Mark, BLO is "Boiled Linseed Oil"...which is actually not "boiled". Rather, it has metalic driers added so it will cure in a reasonably short period of time. Available at the 'borg in quarts and gallons for not a lot of money. It's a staple in my shop finishing cabinet.

[Howie French]

thanks everyone for your responses.
I decided to try Sealcoat, however everyone was out of it, so I went with Zinsser's clear shellac. After a few hours of scraping and sanding to remove the amber shellac, I lightly applied blo, then today I started applying the clear shellac. It was alot of work but worth it, now the cherry looks like cherry.

I am going to try a Garnet de-waxed shellac on a future project.


Howie