Finishing Cherry

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Attachment 21406I am making a large (1660x1600) coffe table made out of American Cherry veneered MDF.

After finishing a scrap piece with 3 coats of Oil based Polyurethane I got a not very pleasant brownish/grayish tint to the veneer instead of the expected warm amber/orange hue.

I have included 3 pictures:
1) The sanded unfinished veneer - the actual colour is slightly less pink
2) After 3 coats of Oil based Polyurethane - the actual color is slightly more brown (light sanding after each coat)
3) What I expected finished Cherry should look like

CAN ANYBODY HELP. I am a beginner !

Hero

I have never worked with Cherry but I know, from my reading, that it takes years to achieve that warm, reddish colour. I have read that this is at its best after 100 years!

There will be others that have some hands on, but all you have to do is wait!

Add a few hours of strong sunlight - that should help it along.

GW

Have you tried leaving it out in direct sunlight for a few hours yet? You might try sanding it back carefully and then try giving it some sun - this should at least let you know if it can be saved. I recently completed a hall table which was the same as your top pic before finishing...I gave it a few hours of sun and the difference was easy to see. Finished mainly with Tung oil

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Thank you for your suggestion.

Did you use any stain or dye on your table ?

No stain or dye, you shouldn't need to but I think the unfinished photo of the cherry you have looks fine - I'd chuck out whatever finish you were using and go with something else for sure - good luck.:D

Heromed,
Just because it's 10.30 at night and I've got nothing better to do here is a photo of the cherry I used before finishing (yes that's a Supercraft chisel:o , but it works though...).

Your unfinished cherry looks more pink then mine, altough this may be due to the photo.

What method, and products have you used in finishing your table ?

I am a total beginner to finishing !

Instead of a plastic finish consider using Ubeaut Hard Shellac, my new found friend.
About 5 coats diluted with 100% meths, sanded lightly with 500grit or better, EEE Paste, wipe on wipe off grasshopper then traditional wax.
An article some time ago in Fine Woodworking also mentioned leaving in strong sunlight to speed up the darkening process.
The other members kid thee not when it comes to sunlight, it appears that cherry undergoes some transformation (or accellerates the same) when exposed to natural light.
Hard shellac is pretty much a bullet proof sort of natural finish although it can take about a month to harden completely, not that it is soft or tacky, just takes time for the full process to occur.
Hard shellac is available in Melb from Carbtec, Woodworking Warehouse, Carrols in Drysdale or he will mail order, top bloke too is Jim, look on the products page of this site for suppliers near you.

Heres a pic of a coffee table I made a while back :

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=17546

All I used was a couple of days worth of sunlight and Pre-cat Laquer but any of the u-beaut finishes would work, standard/unbleached shellac would alter the color though.

The main thing is sunlight it will darken the cherry and give you the color your after. If possible you should do this before applying the finish.

It will continue to change as the peice ages also, when I first finished the coffee table there was quite a difference between it and the exsisting furniture I had, but now they are almost a the same colors.

joez

Try some Briwax Danish Oil.

Hummm....I think by looking at your pics the the cherry you have may be spalted.

Definition of Spalted wood:Wood which is in the first stages of fungal decay, ie rot. Very often it is made manifest by irregular dark, or black, lines which run through the material. It is most common in beech but is found in many other hard woods. The fungae require damp conditions in which to grow; when the wood is dried (below about 20% MC) the fungae die and the process ceases.

If this is the condition of your cherry it will never look like it should and you may not want to waste any more time trying to finish it. Staining may help but it's doubtfull. I love splalted wood, but cherry is not a good wood for spalting. I have quite a few ft of spalted maple and it is beautifull. Looks at first glance like marble with a chocolate and vanilla color. If you want a total natural finish use a water based poly, but if you don't mind a little ambering use a oil base. I like both, but the wipe-on oil poly is easiest to use.

I'm presently building my kitchen cabinets out of appalacian cherry. I prefer 6 or 7 coats of wipe on poly for my finish.

Chizl,
welcome aboard, post some pics of your kitchen (or other work) when you get a chance.:)

Mick

Mick, thanks. Not sure if I got the pic in this post or not but I guess I'll find out. I still have all my doors to make and will start them after I get all of the units built. I still have another wall of cabinets to go.
In additition Mick, I'm just a trim carpenter who if possible, someday will retire and have the luxery of building fine things the way I like to. I mainly come to these forums to learn from others and share what little knowledge I have to offer. That spalted maple has been sitting in my garage now for 17 years begging me to do something intelligent with it. I'm waiting for the day I'm intelligent enough to make good use of it. The closest I come to fine wookworking is doing stairways, I enjoy them and the more difficult the better. Thanks again for the warm welcome.

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