Cherry finish suggestions....

[redhawknc1]

Working on a small hand tool storage cabinet that was in this months ShopNotes magazine. The carcass is cherry with a baltic birch plywood back. I've never finished any cherry. Does anyone have a favorite finish for cherry? And can I use the same finish over the Baltic Burch Plywood? The ShopNotes version left the Baltic Birch clear and stained the cherry. Would love to hear some suggestions...Something rather easy preferred, this will be a project for my shop.

 

[DaveO]

I have always had very good results with a "danish oil" type finish on Cherry, and then let it darken on it's own over time. I wouldn't recommend staining Cherry for several reason. First it tends to blotch. Second it's just wrong, Cherry is a beautiful color on it's own, why would you want to change it :icon_scra
With the Danish Oil (or home-brew 1:1:1 MS, BLO, Poly) you can wipe it on, and finish the whole cabinet with it. It doesn't get much easier that that. And it's easily repair/renewed which is great for a shop piece.
MTCW,
Dave

 

[Bas]

What Dave said. If you want a darker color, put it outside for a few hours before you put the finish on (when it's sunny - rain not recommended). The home brew should work well on the plywood too, although you may find that it will be saturated with oil quicker than the cherry. No worries, just a little more to wipe off.

After the finish is completely cured, I rub it out with some paste wax and 0000 steel wool. Really makes that cherry shine.

 

[redhawknc1]

I've used the danish oil (dark walnut) quite a bit and like it. Do they make a danish oil for cherry or is it clear? And I mix a similar homebrew as mentioned and it works well on walnut. I don't want any real color change. Would like the natural cherry to show. Just pop the grain and a little protection. And to stay fairly light so as not to darken the shop any more. Still gotta glue-up, trim and make the doors. Gonna have to have some glass cut for the doors and decide what I'm gonna do for the inside. Thinking of just making tool holders and attaching to the back with screws and plugs. (1/2" Baltic Birch plwood. Most of my tool holders already made are of walnut. Walnut holders, cherry cabinet with Baltic Birch background work? Terrible pic of progress...Picture of ShopNotes cabinet on magazine in cabinet.

 

[Canuck]

I built a small shaker style table out of cherry and just applied about 4 coats of Waterlox Original Sealer/Finish and it has darkened to a very nice darkened finish.

Here is a picture of it about a month after I finished it....



It is now about 3 shades darker with exposure to direct sunlight.

Waterlox is a little pricey, but oh so very easy to apply!!!:icon_thum

Wayne

 

[Outa Square]

Wayne

there was an article in fine wood worker, i belive issue 200 that addressed finishing cherry. I know it's on there site... you can sign up for a trial of their online content. if not i may have the issue laying around, pm me.

 

[Keye]

Five years ago I would agree 100% all the time with Dave and Bas but not now.

If you have great quality cherry that is well matched then do not use a stain. If you have some of the cherry that is being sold as select or better but is anything but then staining is a viable option. If you are going to stain use a gel stain. I have found it does not blotch. General finishes is what I use.

There is some really poor cherry around these days but with the cost for high quality cherry being what it is some folks can not afford it. IMHO a blanket statement to never stain cherry may lead someone to a finish that is not what they expected.

 

[Travis Porter]

I have had cherry go blotchy with BLO and Danish oil, still, I like them on it overall. Shellac is another nice top coat especially for a shop project.

FWW just had an article on controlling blotchiness on cherry and maple.

 

[Bryan S]

I recently finished my first project With cherry first with BLO then top coated with several coats of Waterlox original gloss. While I did not have a blotching issue with the BLO it did give it a more amber tone than I probably wanted.

The Waterlox finish came out great, thinned 50/50 with mineral spirits to make it a wipe on varnish. If I had it to do over i may have left the BLO step out but the loml liked it and that was the important part.

Here's a link to some of the finished project to give you a feel for what it will look like

 

[JimD]

My only major cherry project is a kitchen island I finished earlier this year. I sprayed it with Resisthane, a water base finish that has properties somewhat like a pre-cat lacquer (but no odor). I agree that cherry should not be stained. There can be a large color variation in cherry but when I make things, I work to determine which piece of wood goes where so the variation is a good thing. If you get forced by circumstances to mix the wood in a way that is not pleasing, then I guess a light stain could help equal things out.

I've seen the articles talking about blotching in cherry but it seems to me that the reference is to the figure in the wood. Surely people are not trying to make the nice figure go away? I purposely sorted through the pile of cherry at the place near the Charlotte airport to find highly figured pieces for my drawer fronts. No way to I want that figure be anything but fully apparent.

Unstained cherry is not going to look like furniture sold as cherry (much of which has no cherry wood in it). Cherry furniture is darker than cherry that is not real old or has not seen a lot of sun and is more consistent in color. The only way to make new cherry look like that is to stain it a bunch but if you want that look, you can save some money and just use birch or maple (as is typical for commercially sold furniture). Our dining room furniture is purchased cherry furniture but when my brother leaned back too far in a chair I got to see what it was made of and it definitely is not cherry (the fix was pretty easy and is not readily visible).

Last comment - you indicate your tool racks are walnut. Do you know that sunlight has the opposite effect on walnut as cherry. Cherry gets dark, walnut becomes more pale. I put walnut caps on our newel posts and the ones near the windows have lightened noticably. May not make a difference in the shop but I thought I'd mention it. The tables I made in our living room are well away from the windows and much older and show no shade change so it seems to happen only in direct sunlight.

Jim

 

[redhawknc1]

Some great suggestions and information. I'm leaning towards making the first cabinet into a Plane Till. If I do, I'll dado a couple more slots for 2 to 3 shelves. Also leaning to the Watco Danish Oil, just don't know whether to use natural or cherry. I'll have to look at the color chart at the BORG if they have one. I have 200+ board feet of cherry I need to use up. Thought about a Plane Till, Chisel Cabinet, etc, etc. I've already cut the Baltic Birch sheet to size so the dimensions are pretty much set. Enough for 4 of these cabinets. Was planning on mounting them over my workbench in my handtool area. Will need to decide on the interiors for each cabinet. The plan in Shopnotes call for cutting slots at a 45 degree angle every 2 1/2" and using small cleats to attach different holders to the back. I still haven't decided exactly if I'll do one that way yet. So, the plane till will be 1st. Just 3 1/2" shelves or maybe 5" (The depth of the case) and no glass doors. If not 5", I'll have to use stop dado's. I guess that wouldn't be too much more work. Just finish out with a chisel. I was looking at the shelf pin drill jigs, that way I could have moveable shelves. Anyone have a favorte brand jig for that. Or any experience with them.
I guess everyone can tell, this is my first bigger project. Thanks for the help.

 

[Travis Porter]

I have a shelf pin jig I got at Woodcraft or Klingspor for around $22. It looks to be pretty good, but I haven't used it yet. One of my impulse buys if you know what I mean.:embaresse

What is really nice IMO, is the Nahm method using a plunge router. I believe he just drilled holes spaced out evenly on a board or used pegboard to make it and then used a plunge router with the guide bushings to fit it and plunged it.

What would be really nice is a multi-spindle line borer. I have one that I have borrowed from a friend to do the house of cabinets and it is a sweet thing. Of course, I now want one.:wink_smil

 

[Tom Dunn]

I'm with Dave on the cherry finish business.
Chest below is just cherry with Danish oil/poly....no stain what-so-ever...not the best pic, sorry.....

 

[redhawknc1]

Bought a can of the Watco "Cherry" Danish Oil and tried on a sample. Looked blotchy and didn't care for the color. There's about $14 down the drain...thought I would try the Watco "Natural" Penetrating Danish oil. Is that a good choice? Keep tinkering with other projects, so this one is just like I left it. Did buy a shelf pin jig and cut the holes for the movable shelves. And have cut the shelves. Need to glue the thing up and start on the doors.
The following pic is an example of the type of doors I want to build for the extra storage of chisels, etc. Any suggestions on joints for the frame? And how to I put a solid cherry fronts on the doors. I'll have to joint 3 5" wide pc. for each door (1/2 or 3/4?). I know if I glue that into a rabbet it will crack, split, warp, whatever. Any suggestions appreciated! Very newbie question I'm sure! And are piano hinges hard to install and align properly?

:eusa_booh

 

[DaveO]

Bought a can of the Watco "Cherry" Danish Oil and tried on a sample. Looked blotchy and didn't care for the color. There's about $14 down the drain...thought I would try the Watco "Natural" Penetrating Danish oil. Is that a good choice? Keep tinkering with other projects, so this one is just like I left it. Did buy a shelf pin jig and cut the holes for the movable shelves. And have cut the shelves. Need to glue the thing up and start on the doors.
The following pic is an example of the type of doors I want to build for the extra storage of chisels, etc. Any suggestions on joints for the frame? And how to I put a solid cherry fronts on the doors. I'll have to joint 3 5" wide pc. for each door (1/2 or 3/4?). I know if I glue that into a rabbet it will crack, split, warp, whatever. Any suggestions appreciated! Very newbie question I'm sure! And are piano hinges hard to install and align properly?

:eusa_booh

The Watco "natural" Danish Oil won't give the blotch problem your getting with the Cherry tinted stuff. Also you can make essentially the same thing with a 1:1:1 mix of MS, Gloss Poly, and BLO.
I would use either box joints or thru DTs for the door frame joint. I would float any solid wood panel in a groove in the frame so it will be free to move. You could either do a raised panel or just cut a rabbet on the edges to fit into the groove. But this is a perfect application for some cherry veneered plywood either shop made or purchased.
Piano hinges are pretty easy to install provided your doors fit well. They offer no adjustment. I would install them with only a few screws to start to make sure you have everything aligned. That way if you have to move the screw holes you'll have fresh wood to screw into later. In this case I would build the carcass as one piece then cut it in two to form the clam shell. With adjustable shelves they could be inserted after the clam is opened. This way you would be assured that the door would match the back exactly.
MTCW,
Dave

 

[redhawknc1]

Dave, thanks so much! With the cherry plywood (if I can find it), could I just glue the panel into a rabbet on the door frame? With plywood I wouldn't have to worry about movement then, would I? That way I could end up with the simple workshop look I'm after. And building the 2 doors as 1 piece...then ripping sounds great!

 

[DaveO]

Dave, thanks so much! With the cherry plywood (if I can find it), could I just glue the panel into a rabbet on the door frame? With plywood I wouldn't have to worry about movement then, would I?

Yes, but I would do it in a dado/groove to hide the edges of the ply and add a little shadow reveal (dust collector). Gluing a ply panel into the door will add a lot of ridgidity to the door and would probably allow you to use a simpler butt, rabbet or lock miter joint instead of box joints or DTs

Dave