Good finish for Cherry?

[ciscokid]

Does anyone have a good, tried and true method for a nice finish on cherry? I used the search engine and saw a couple of previous posts but I would like to bring this up again. One person suggested that cherry needed to age for about one hundred years for a really good color. Rest assured I cannot wait that long. I just planed some cherry planks and they are like a pinkish maple color. Nice flame too. I plan to make a guitar stand out of it. All of my previous woodworking has used exotic lumber that only needs an oil and wax finish. I've never stained anything in my life (O.K. don't talk to my wife).

Do I stain it? Stain it and then seal it? Can I use BLO on it to bring out the flame a bit before applying stain? Could use some advice here.

Thanks.

[Flowboy]

Why do you need to stain this?

[joe greiner]

Natural aging will take somewhat less than 100 years. It can be accelerated almost instantly with a wash of a weak lye solution, followed by white vinegar to neutralize. Experiment with different lye concentrations. A suggested starting point is about 3 Tbsp lye crystals (e.g. Red Devil) in 1 cup water. Water-based wash will tend to raise the grain, so a final sanding will be needed. Very light touch, as the darkening is quite shallow.

This wood is too handsome to stain. Natural aging will add to darkening by stain, and final result would be too dark.

Note: Oven cleaner (e.g. Easy-Off) produces a similar effect, but has some extra additives.

Joe

[ciscokid]

All right, you've talked me out of staining. I'm glad too because it will mean my record is still intact.

I've read that leaving it sit in direct sunlight will hasten the cherry color. Will that still happen if I use a poly finish or should I let the wood 'breath' by just using oil and wax?

I have enough wood to build two of these so I may build one and keep the extra cherry in reserve.

[Rocker]

Cherry darkens in sunlight quite rapidly in a few hours. But be careful not to have any foreign object placed on it while it is exposed to the sun; otherwise the outline of the object will be very prominent. Even if you don't expose it to sunlight, cherry darkens to a rich colour in just a few years, maybe 4 or 5, not 100.

Rocker

[rsser]

Native cherry: Organoil worked OK. Amercian cherry, same or Danish Oil.