Staining Cherry

[pogah]

Hi everyone

I'm a long time reader - first time poster - in need on some advice.

I'm building a cherry bookcase and would like to finish it in that classic cherry-red satin finish. The thing is huge (2550mm high by 3200mm long) and it made up of 3 bottom carcases (with raised panel doors) and 5 top bookshelves. Other pieces are the skirt frame, bench top, crown moulding and raised panel sides. Carcases are cherry veneered MDF with solid cherry for the bench top, doors, trims etc.

The main goals for the finish are:
* Even colour,
* Satin finish,
* Fast to do (as there is such a large area).

I think a sprayed or wipe on poly is an OK finish for this piece (but I'm not wedded to this as an approach) but I'm having real problems with the colour.

I've tried the Feast Watson Stain & Varnish and found that each brush stroke stands out and even a slight overlap of a brush stroke leaves a change in colour tint.

I've tried to stain the raw wood directly (after sanding to 240) and used Feast & Watson Prooftint but found that the open grain on the Cherry made the colour extremely variable.

I've got the Polishers Handbook but there wasn't tonnes of info on how to/order of applying sanding sealers, fillers and stains to get a good stain finish.

So my questions are:
* Are the other approaches that will get me the colour I'm after without a stain? Perhaps a water based one?
* Will a sanding sealer/filler help prevent the dark colouring on open grain (I'm dreading seeing what the end grain on the raised panel doors will look like)?
* What am I doing wrong?

If you are still reading, thanks for sticking with the long post. So far I've only stuffed inside the cupboards so it is still salvagable from with the right advice

[RufflyRustic]

Hi,

Cherry is notorious for not taking a stain evenly. I've not worked with cherry myself (yet) but based on all the reading I've done from a tall stack of Fine Woodworking, the best thing to do is use shellac first on the cherry and then apply the stain and then your finish.

From personal experience, I can recommend UBeaut's White Shellac.

Others may be able to provide additional advice and suggestions.

cheers
Wendy

[ciscokid]

Wendy is perfectly correct. Cherry can be a beautiful timber and darkens naturally over time to a rich luster. However, it is prone to blotchyness when staining is attempted. The shellac acts as a sanding sealer and should make subsequent staining go better. Be sure to use de-waxed shellac.

[czk]

I agree with the ubeaut white shellac as a sealer first.
Also I've had better results with the FW stain if it's diluted about 50/50 with FW colour reducer and then wiped on. The colour reducer seems to give a bit more time to get rid of any streaks.

[pogah]

Thanks everyone. I don't have any dewaxed white shellac here so I'll get some and try it out over the next few days.

FW make a product called Prooftint Pine Sealer which "is a sealer specifically formulated for use on soft, porous timber prior to staining with Prooftint". I gave it a try and it works - too well. The colour is nice and even but too light. No matter how many coats or how long I leave each coat it stays the same colour.

I'll try the white shellac and report back.

Adrian

[czk]

FW make a product called Prooftint Pine Sealer which "is a sealer specifically formulated for use on soft, porous timber prior to staining with Prooftint". I gave it a try and it works - too well. The colour is nice and even but too light. No matter how many coats or how long I leave each coat it stays the same colour.

Adrian, that's what you should expect from a sealer...
let the sealer dry then wipe your stain over the top


chris

[paul collins]

pogah,dont know if you have ever heard of or seen david marks on the diy channel.you can find his site on the net diy.com.he works a lot with cherry & to get that classic red look,i have never seen him use stain.he puts it out in the sun,says it brings out the colour naturally.maybe its worth looking at his site.just a thought.

[Greg Q]

I have used cherry a bit and can report that it does sun darken quickly. Traditionally a linseed oil finish was rubbed on (and on and on and so on). Maybe four coats over six weeks. A less tiresome finish would be wipe-on poly, but make sure it lacks UV protection if you are going to give it a sun tan.

A few years ago people used to use Potassium dichromate, which darkened the piece uniformly, sapwood and all. Problem here is that it's hexavalent chrome, 5 grams of which is a fatal dose. The description of chromium poisoning is pretty gruesome.