cherry question

[smallboat]

In my parents’ house are some furniture pieces they had custom built in cherry. Over the past 35 years the sun has bleached the surfaces that got daily exposure. Is there a way to bring the color back? I’m thinking about the way ammonia brings up walnut and don’t know if there is a similar process that could work here.

 

[Mike Davis]

Probably have to strip and stain.

I’ve always heard the sun darkens cherry, never heard anything about bleaching the color out before.

 

[Robert LaPlaca]

I am with Mike, UV darkens Cherry.. Sure the furniture isn’t Walnut, as UV bleaches Walnut..

 

[smallboat]

It’s possible it is walnut. I’ll have to get a better look / photos next time. I’m no expert on wood identification. The unbleached areas look warmer in tone than I think of with walnut, but who knows what the original finish schedule was.

 

[Robert LaPlaca]

Walnut can take on a lighter brown golden honey’ish tone with lots of UV exposure, not the usual dark brown that one associates with Walnut.

 

[bbrown]

Cherry gets a rich warmth with sunlight. Walnut gets a washed-out dull look. I put my cherry pieces in the sun sometimes to quicken the patina - it's a beautiful look IMO.

 

[smallboat]

Here are some photos showing the faded and unfaded areas.

first shows outside of one door and inside of the other. second shows outside of both doors with the lip of left door showing where it hasn’t been exposed to sunlight.
Any thoughts on how ot get the color back? or is this a job for stain at this point. There’s a shaker style buffet table in the same condition.

 

[Mike Davis]

Wow, that almost looks weathered rather tans faded. I wonder if it is some other species that was dyed or stained cherry color?

I think your only recourse is to stain it at this point. You may try sanding first to see what the natural color was.

It could be butternut.

 

[wndopdlr]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it may not have really been Cherry to start. I have only ever know black Cherry (that's all I have ever worked with) to get darker with exposure to UV light. After years it approaches an almost maroon color. Hopefully others will chime in and prove me wrong.

 

[mkepke]

Wow, that's a rough looking finish there.

It does look like cherry to me. And I do believe that cherry will eventually bleach under sunlight, going from 'new' to dark to bleached out: the UV causes oxidation of the tannins in the wood.

As for restoring the color, strip and color like a stain or dye. The sunlight (UV) has oxidized the tannins, so I doubt any finishing processes that require chemical reactions with tannins (like lye or ammonia) will do much. (In theory you could remove the top layer of oxidized lumber to get at 'fresh' wood, but that doesn't seem practical here.)

-Mark

 

[smallboat]

I’ve gotten so used to this coloration over the years, I didn’t realize what it used to be. Until I opened it up!
Fortunately these are the only two pieces that had that exposure in the house. They’ve been sitting in the same spots since new in 1988.

 

[bob vaughan]

The grain pattern looks right for cherry but other woods with a diffuse porous grain could look similar. Sunlight will wash out a stained surface. Could be that the cherry was also stained. The inside of that door looks like cherry that was stained to get a good consistent color, particularly if there was a lot of sapwood.

 

[chris_goris]

I would look into toners. Klingspor sells some mohawk toners that would probably work here or determine the topcoat (laquer or poly) and use dyes to tint a new topcoat.

 

[tiswritten]

The first picture makes me also think butternut is a strong possibility...walnut being a close second based on the second picture....maybe a combination? Sawmills tend to throw butternut logs in with the walnut logs since they are similar and it's rare to get butternut in volume, commercially speaking. The butternut lumber ends up getting steamed with the walnut lumber. The heartwood "juices" from the walnut artificially brown the butternut. The steaming process, regardless if it is walnut or butternut, does not permeate through the entire thickness of the lumber. Those light/dark splotches really remind me of walnut/butternut (mainly sapwood) coming out of the planer where you've reached the permeation point (depth) of the steaming process. The more I look, the more I lean towards sappy walnut that was lightly steamed and/or planed to the permeation point and has faded over time.