Finishing curly cherry

M

macchips4

Well-known member
I'm a new member, joined at the show in Philadelphia, and this is my first post. i've read some of the past posted discussions on finishing cherry. I'm building a shaker style table with drawers and trying plan out a finish for it. (I haven't cut the wood yet!)  I'll probably make a ton of samples as experiments of course. In the past I've dyed with NGR stains, with shellac or oil, without any stain, etc but always had a little dissatisfaction. There is a lot of "curly" figure. and want to emphasize it. Any suggestions or experiences would be welcomed.
Thanks.
Joe 
 
Hi Joe,

Welcome to SAPFM. Given my experience with cherry, especially with figure, is to first avoid sanding beyond 220 grit or better yet either scrape or hand plane your surfaces for better clarity to the grain. I then use a wash coat of shellac (1/2 lb cut) made from a lower grade such as garnet or buttonlac. Lightly sand out with worn out 220 grit to eliminate any grain raising. Repeat using a second wash coat. To further accentuate the grain, I will genrally rely on water base dyes. The NGR types are usually too fast drying and are difficult to control over large surfaces unless sprayed. Since the water based dye dries slower, they will penetrate better. I would experiment with various dark colored water based dyes to see what works best to accentuate the end grain features typical in curly figure. This should give you a nice contrast between the end and long grain features in the wood surface. Of course an oil finish will help accentuate this character further.

Mickey
 
When you say to usie an oil finish to accentuate the character further, Did you mean to apply an oil finish on top of the shellac? wouldn't the shellac act as a sealer and even out the grain? wouldn't the shellac prevent  stains from penetrating?
Joe
 
Welcome Joe,
Mickey is using a very thin cut of shellac which will primarily seal the more end type grain of the curl and obviously seal the flatter grains more effectively, but by cutting the shellac with sandpaper you can open up the flatter grain in order to administer some type of stain to the wood. The primary concern here is to not apply a stain that will  be absorbed by the end type grain of the curl and a light cut of shellac is a good way to go depending on how you progress from there. I have good results by simply loading the grain with oil and then using shellac over that. This doesn't work as well on lighter woods like maple and anigre but mineral or linseed are good for cherry. After a little oil is applied to the curly cherry to bring the grain up a bit you can seal the effect with an application of shellac. I would caution against using a lot of oil on cherry if you intend to use a shellac finish as the density of the would doesn't permit a high absorption of the oil and you will end up cleaning a lot of it off of a shellac finish. Also, don't use rottenstone or 4F pumice on cherry. There is no place for it to go. I would say that from there you can obtain the color you want by continuing with any type of shellac, but I'm no expert on dyes and stains. I add dyes to shellac when necessary. I think there is a vast catalog of posts on the forum that can help you if you want to dig deeper.
Fran
 
Joe ,  my only caution, not knowing your final finish, is to use super blond dewaxed shellac.  If this is used as a wash coat, there are no compatibility problems.  Good hearing from you.  I hope you enjoy SAPFM.

Jim Vojcek
 
    After doing some samples I think I'm going to use Golden Brown tans-tint mixed in water, coated with 3 coats of super blonde schellac, buffed with 0000 steel wool and then waxed. I tried some samples with oil between the stain and shellac but saw no difference once the samples were finished and waxed.
At least thats the pan for now once the table is done I might use a glaze after the first coat of shellac to give it some "age" but thats a long way off.
Thanks for everyones input and replies.
Joe
 
Joe,
You might also consider using the assortment of 3M scotch-brite pads instead of steel wool. Its been a while since I last used used steel wool but I can remember bits of it scattered all over the place, and then rusty bits of it all over the place.
John
 
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