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Favorite finish for Cherry?

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Favorite finish for Cherry?

#1

Favorite finish for Cherry?

Ryan Stagg - Cincinnati

>...cherry that will see a fair amount of wear-and-tear.

Yeah, yeah, I know - volumes of finishing advice in the archives, but after spending a couple of days reading, I still feel a bit lost. I'd like to branch out, but my normal furniture finishing is just oil and paste wax, so I'm coming from a pretty naive perspective.

I'm at the finishing stage for a large system of cherry built-in library cabs, and I'm still not sure what to do. I'd like a slightly matte finish, good protection, and a 'pop' for the figure - quite a bit of chatoyance in this material.

I'd thought about Jewitt's oil-and-shellac schedule, but I'm afraid an errant martini will mar the finish - my house hosts quite a few parties.

Over the years I've turned my nose up at polyurethane finishes - most I've seen are way too cloudy and plasticy looking IMHO - but FWW just gave some favorable reviews to the newer water-based polys, so I'd like to hear from someone that uses them.

Would General Finishes High Performance over linseed oil get the results I'm looking for? Should I washcoat? Any ideas and advice would really be appreciated.

What Say You, Oh Lords of the Finish Room?

Re: Favorite finish for Cherry?

#2

Re: Favorite finish for Cherry?

Stew Pharis

>On cherry, I've had good luck with two coats of dark shellac (http://homesteadfinishing.com/htdocs/shellac3.htm) in a 1.5 pound cut followed by a thinned quick dry varnish (see Fine Woodworking Issue #143 for a description of the varnish technique). The finish looks good, holds up well, and is easy to apply.

Stew

Re: Favorite finish for Cherry?

#3

Oops, probably a bit OT

Ryan Stagg - Cincinnati

>...meant to post this in the main message board, but my browser's always pointing to the galoot's corner ;-).

Lots of people here whose opinion I respect that probably don't browse the main board, so I'd still appreciate feedback. I'll post this on the main board too, tho'.

Re: Favorite finish for Cherry?

#4

Re: Oops, probably a bit OT

thomd

>Cherry is an easy wood to finish, perhaps the easiest, since it has compact grain, and the colour is not adversly affected by ambering. You can buy watco oil in many hardwares, and they make a wax past to go with it. Several coats of the oil followed by a finishing coat of wax. Watco is easy to put down, non-toxic after a month or so of drying, easily repaired.

Slightly more stain resistant, is the Maloof finish. 1 part semi gloss varathane (oil base not the milky water based), i part polynerized tung oil (the raw oil, not tung oil finish), 1 part linseed oil. The varnish adds water resistance and a little hardness and japan dryer; the linseed adds shine; and tung is the most durable oil. whipe on and whipe off before it starts to set, let dry. Repeat until the wood stops soaking up the mix. This mixture is available premixed from woodcraft I think, or was. Normally a top coat of wax is used that ads some prottection but should be very thin.

Re: Favorite finish for Cherry?

#5

Re: Favorite finish for Cherry?

Jerry Huey

>After some discussion with Jeff J. some years ago in the BP days I ended up with regular poly over oil on a cherry bench I built. Still looks great. His advise was to not use too much oil (like I usually do on cherry). Forge ahead, don't worry. In fact I don't think I would worry about using the water based, the regular has better color. Jerry

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