Staining cherry question

Re: Staining cherry question

Hank Knight

Barry, I'm sure you already know this, but I'll mention it anyway. Cherry, like walnut and maple, is prone to blotching when it is stained. It even blotches with finish without any stain. I don't have a favorite stain for cherry to suggest, but I do have a suggestion for whatever stain you choose. Before applying the stain, give the cherry a wash coat of 1# cut shellac. When it's dry sand it lightly back to the surface with 320 grit sandpaper, then apply the stain. The 1# cut shellac is very thin. It soaks deep into the wood and dries very quickly. Sanding it back to the surface (a very light sanding) doesn't remove the shellac from the sub surface cells of the curly areas, the areas the soak up lots of stain and cause the blotching, I.E. it seals the sub surface cells and prevents them from soaking up too much stain and "blotching" your finish. I've used this technique on cherry, walnut (see my post re: Desk Project Update, above) and on Maple. It works.

Re: Staining cherry question

JL

I've had "reasonable" luck with General Finishes cherry stain.

I was doing a coffee table and a TV stand and had to "hide" a bit of sapwood.

General Finishes oil based Warm Cherry worked for me. They had a 1/2 pt. container at Woodcraft - which was enough to do the projects.

Re: Staining cherry question

Dick Coers

My opinion, it's hand made work from a product of nature. It's not supposed to be all evened out! It was different when I made a living from my furniture work, now it's just for me and family. They get natural, or they go to IKEA. Funny, they mainly go to IKEA. I wonder if they will regret that decision when I'm gone?

Re: Staining cherry question

paul in AZ

I agree with Dick. Cherry is too beautiful to stain.

Most of my cherry is treated with a light coat or two of boiled linseed and then put out in the sun for as much as a couple of days. This pops the color and grain and will [to some degree] mellow out the contrast with sapwood.

When fully dry, some surface finish.

After that, wait a year or three.

If you don't care for natural cherry's patina Ikea or Walmart are the quickest options.

your issue and "blotching"

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I do not have an answer for your question. With nothing more than your description I can't diagnose and achieve the finishing goal you desire. A furniture factory would spray a toner stain, maybe a tinted lacquer and glaze to make a surface uniform and soft maple would not look any different than cherry when they are done. .

The problem with cherry is that it doesn't stay the color of the freshly assembled piece. Making it uniform today could lead to not uniform in 3 years.

Low elevation southern cherry will never look like cherry grown in a colder environment no matter the treatment, short of "painting" it with stain and glaze. Length of exposure to light could result in temporary differences. And I am sure here are other causes leading to what you currently observe.

As far as blotching, I don't understand why what we celebrate in maple we try to cover up in cherry, or in Hank's case walnut. To add to the opinions, I always stain cherry and I never wash coat it or walnut. I will wash coat a crotch to keep it from going "black" upon staining. I think the color variation in daughter's chest of drawers is just fine by me.

Re: your issue and "blotching"

Steve jenkins

A friend of mine visited I believe it was Henredon furniture factory some years ago. They happened to be running a batch of cherry through there finishing shop and the first step was to spray everything with a yellow dye. Consistency is the name of the game for the factories.

Re: your issue and "blotching"

Hank Knight

Bill, in my view, "blotching" is just an extreme case of highlighting the grain. In many cases, like my figured walnut, I want to highlight the figure. But the board has lots of subtle, shallow grain variations in addition to the dramatic figure that are not apparent. These are what cause "blotching." The are not as pronounced or as deep as the primary figure, but when they are stained, they absorb lots of stain and show up as "blotching" in the finished product. A pre stain application of a thin coat of shellac seals these fibers and allows the deeper and more dramatic fiber variations in the figure to absorb more stain. True, the shellac may inhibit some stain absorption in the figure fibers, but they absorb enough stain to set them apart from the rest of the field. The result is a more even stain over the entire surface, but with the figured grain highlighted.

Re: Staining cherry question

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

Personally, I would take the "lighter" Cherry and put it on a table or Tarp in direct sunlight for a few hours. I would bet it will darken and look much like the other Cherry you have.

I do not stain Cherry ~ I like the color variations, and usually after a relative short time after the project is done the colors blend. I like to finish with Behlen Qualalacq lacquer, often spraying 2 to 4 coats of Gloss and then finish with satin.

Re: Staining cherry question *LINK*

David Yoho

Barry, another way to prevent blotching in woods prone to it is a product created by Charles Neil in Harrisonburg, VA. Check the link for product and ordering info. It's good stuff and it works.


Charles Neil's Blotch Control

Used It

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

on this

as d.i.l. wanted cherry with walnut stain.

Couple points:

Careful sanding with the same grit is required.

Product is waterbased so will raise grain a bit even if you raise/resand before application. Rub down with maroon synthetic was effective.

Notwithstanding all of that, I still had some lighter areas that had to be blended with tinted shellac before top coating.

All-in-all I can't say I'll give up my spit-coat of 1lb shellac to control absorption, especially with cherry that may have compression wood present.