Anyone have any advice on finishing Cherry? I haven't worked with it before and I am making a flag case for some friends. Picture of the raw wood attached.

I'm sure @kmealy will be along soon. He is our goto guy for finishing.

IMO, cherry looks best with its natural color.  Pigmented stains tend to blotch on cherry.

 

What works well for me is a coat of boiled linseed oil, let it cure for a week.  If you can get it out in the sun for part of this time, that helps.  Then I add a coat of shellac, and follow with an appropriate finish, including just more shellac, since a flag case won't need a lot of protection against abrasion or chemicals.

 

Thanks. That's what I will do. I will post a picture when done

2 hours ago, skiler said:

Thanks. That's what I will do. I will post a picture when done

Love to see it.

Steve Mickley on the old Wood forums used : BLO , then garnet shellac, then finish of your choice although like Keith said I like the shellac as a finish for a low or no touch item. What the garnet shellac does is to even out the color of the cherry since it does vary from one board to the next and it will help even on sapwood.

I've always skip finishing the inside of flag case, and suggest you do as well (if that wasn't in the thinking). Not only will it make the flag stink (oil based finishes) but it may have some detrimental effect on the fabric.

Skiler, another alternative is to sand the surface to 800grit, then a 1200 abralon pad, and two coats of a wipe on varnish, any will do. The idea is, when you sand to that level, you are burnishing a natural finish into the wood, virtually polishing the woods surface before you even get a single coat of finish on it. The wood will have a nice gloss sheen to it after the burnishing is done, then when you hit it with wipe on varnish, the wood grain explodes. I use this process on my sculpted rockers, and the wood is also incredibly smooth and wonderful to touch. So what you have is a "sanding intensive" process but a very easy finish process.

 

If you are interested I can go into more detail. For a piece as small as the flag case, entire process from sanding to finish, will take an hour.

Hello Skiler

I built a dining table using figured cherry. After sanding I wiped on a coat of BLO and let it cure for a few days. Then I wiped on 2 or 3 coats of garnet shellac with light sanding in between. Then I wiped on 3 coats of P&L 38. 

Good luck!

hat

Just now, hatuffej said:

Hello Skiler

I built a dining table using figured cherry. After sanding I wiped on a coat of BLO and let it cure for a few days. Then I wiped on 2 or 3 coats of garnet shellac with light sanding in between. Then I wiped on 3 coats of P&L 38. 

Good luck!

hat

Hat, that is absolutely one of the most beautiful cherry tables I have seen, the chairs too right? You built those too? I really love the design, can you elaborate on design? Yours? Plans? And if plans, can you point us to a source? Being a "chair freak" that I am, the chairs I love.

21 minutes ago, hatuffej said:

Hello Skiler

I built a dining table using figured cherry. After sanding I wiped on a coat of BLO and let it cure for a few days. Then I wiped on 2 or 3 coats of garnet shellac with light sanding in between. Then I wiped on 3 coats of P&L 38. 

Good luck!

hat

Beautiful table and chairs! I noticed the braided floor covering- reminded me of the ones my Grandmother used to make. She had them everywhere! 

7 minutes ago, lew said:

Beautiful table and chairs! I noticed the braided floor covering- reminded me of the ones my Grandmother used to make. She had them everywhere! 

That rug is perfect for the dining set isn't it? Just a really unique and organic look and feel all around, I love it.

47 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Hat, that is absolutely one of the most beautiful cherry tables I have seen, the chairs too right? You built those too? I really love the design, can you elaborate on design? Yours? Plans? And if plans, can you point us to a source? Being a "chair freak" that I am, the chairs I love.

Thanks, John and Lew. The designs for the table and chairs are my own, sketched up on 18-inch wide white butcher paper. I scaled the table dimensions to fit the dining room. I found a site somewhere that gave the basic ratios and angles for chairs and designed them to match the numbers. The trim is African padauk and black walnut. The inlays are BW for the leaves, BW, AP and hard maple for the diamond columns. All the joints are M&T that I made using jigs I made from from WWing mags. I made templates for the chair legs and a simple frame for assembly and glue-up so they would all come out the same. I learned the basics of upholstery from an online site somewhere and made the seat cushions. The table expands via ball bearing sliders mounted underneath to accept a middle section of near similar width with matching aprons, trim, and center inlays. It was by far the most satisfying project I have ever done. Much of what I have learned how to do has come from other woodworkers on forums like this one.

hat   

Edited October 29, 20178 yr by hatuffej

1 minute ago, hatuffej said:

The designs for the table and chairs are my own, sketched up on 18-inch wide white butcher paper. I scaled the table dimensions to fit the dining room

This is completely awesome, the project now takes on a different feel, knowing it came from the brain matter that is part of hatuffej. 

2 minutes ago, hatuffej said:

I learned the basics of upholstery from an online site somewhere and made the seat cushions.

Even more awesome, it's getting better and better now.

2 minutes ago, hatuffej said:

It was by far the most satisfying project I have ever done

I can believe it. This is the kind of work I really like, work from your mind to a useful form for people to use. It's a wonderful job hatuffej, this project deserves a topic all it's own with details from design to completion, thanks.

Skiler,

I to used BLO, 1-1/2 # cut of garnet shellac, and 3 coats of varnish for my kitchen cabinetry. 

 

Danl

Cherry with satin poly...Cherry cabinet with red Mahogany stain and poly ..

 

Edited October 29, 20178 yr by BillyJack

Man, There is some really beautiful work on this thread. Hat, that table and chairs is beautiful. Really like the inlaid leaves. Some nice work on the cabinets too. Fred thanks for the heads up on not finishing the inside. Thanks to all of you for the advice. 

All, I'm getting ready to finish the flag case mentioned in this thread. I have never worked with BLO before and I understand it has a bad habit of spontainious (sp) combustion on the rag used to apply it.  Any advice on how not to burn my shop down? How do you who have used it, dispose of the rag and anything else that might combust?

1 hour ago, skiler said:

All, I'm getting ready to finish the flag case mentioned in this thread. I have never worked with BLO before and I understand it has a bad habit of spontainious (sp) combustion on the rag used to apply it.  Any advice on how not to burn my shop down? How do you who have used it, dispose of the rag and anything else that might combust?

Hello skiler

Lay the unfolded BLO rag out to dry uncovered in the open air for a couple of days. DO NOT wad it up and toss it in the garbage. When it has dried out, you can chuck it.

hat

Edited December 6, 20178 yr by hatuffej

I hang it over the edge of the garbage can, unfolded and outside.   Or if you have bush, you can spring it over the branches.   Lots of air and cool weather helps.

 

What happens:

 BLO cures by absorbing oxygen and linking up.  It is an exothermic reaction (generates heat).  When there is no way for the heat to escape, it warms up the rag.  When the temperature is increased by 10C / 18F the reaction speed doubles.   When the reaction happens faster, it generates more heat.  Repeat, repeat, until ignition temperature is reached.