I have many  projects that I made years ago. Some had outstanding grain features. The years have darkened them and some are barely visible now.  I don't want to do a lot of work to find out that the darkness has gone thru the entire piece.

 

DOES THE DARKEN GRAIN GO THRU THE ENTIRE WIDTH OF THE PIECE?

I would say no but it is not worth removing all that wood and finish to get to the original color. I do believe the deeper into a piece it will darken just a little from the off the saw colors. This based on turning wood that has been in my shop for 20 years.

 

It would be interesting to see how deep the darkening goes. My guess in cherry (my most used wood) would be less than 1/32.

3 hours ago, Gerald said:

My guess in cherry (my most used wood) would be less than 1/32.

 

Which is still a substantial amount of wood to sand off, and keep straight, if planing isn't an option.

Based on that info, I may try.  If I do, is there a finish that is best to use to prevent or slow down that darkening?

Some claim the UV blockers retard this reaction but even that would only do so with some restrictions. If in direct sunlight all bets are off. In a light limited area would last longer unless it is cherry in which case nothing will stop it from darkening.

I’m going to try. I’ll post before &after photos 

9 hours ago, Ron Altier said:

I’m going to try. I’ll post before &after photos 

Ron, you have two things going on, the wood itself is darkening over time, and the finish darkens even quicker if you are using an oil based finished, If you want to slow down the aging process significantly, you should use a water based finish, the water based will not darken, but that won't stop the wood itself from darkening somewhat, unless you have a water based with UV blockers perhaps?

 

What you are seeing are probably projects you built years ago when the oil based finishes were the "go to", but now you have a wide selection of choices for water based finishes.

 

EDIT: Ooops, you were asking a different question, does the darkening go through the entire piece, my answer would be no, there is nothing you have built in your lifetime what would have the darkening go all the way through.

Here is an example, years ago, a customer brought over a maple sitting bench that he purchased off of Ebay, the year of the piece is early 1800's, original everything on it, don't ask me why, but he wanted the whole thing sanded down to natural wood, a dark deep dye applied to it, and finished, he wanted it to look brand new, the way the parts looked to me was absolutely beautiful as is, it certainly had it's dents and dings, the arms and posts were curly maple and had developed that deep rich golden amber patina that only something that age could produce, but hey, even after my opinion was aired to keep it as is, he wanted it completely refinished new, and I needed the money. That being said the rest of it looked pretty beat up, it had been re-upholstered who knows when.

 

But even as old as the early 1800's It took literally seconds to sand through a small area to the natural Curly Maple and rid that piece of all that beautiful patina. So even after 200 years of patina build up the patina had not gone too deep at all.

 

Here is a topic I entered around the time of that project, I am repairing the ball foot, the color of the foot was the original color it came with. The original finish was shellac.

 

 

 

After further reading the replies above regarding cherry depth of darkness, I bet it also depends on the species of wood, perhaps hard wood patina doesn't go as deep as softwood? Since the cells are tighter and would not allow as much UV to enter the wood, as say a pine or spruce or cedar?

you only have an original finish once.

 

just enjoy it.

 

time affects us all.