Blotch free cherry finish

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Here we go again. I've read and tried lots of techniques to color figured cherry without blotching. I've had varying degrees of success with many of them but never achieved the look I want. Yesterday I read a short article about popping the grain with one of the various colors of Danish Watco oil and top coating with a solvent based finish. I normally spray Sherwin Williams precat. Of course, I will venture out into the shop and try it as soon as I can lay my hands on some Watco Oil but I am curious to know if anyone has tried it on cherry. I am aware some cherry doesn't have a tendency to blotch as badly as others but the table am preparing to finish will blotch badly given the tests I've done on scraps left from the top. This table is ten feet long and 50" wide with rope carvings around the perimeter and eternity carvings on the apron. There are lots of nooks and crannies that make coloring difficult but present an opportunity for leaving some color in deep creases. I have too many dollars and hours invested to allow myself a disappointing finish. The customer has her heart set on a light brown finish, not the natural color of cherry. I will keep it light to allow for the inevitable darkening that will happen with time.
Anyone have any experience with this combination? Thanks.
Butch

[Scott Holmes]

Danish oils usually have a stain (pigment) added; a light brown dye will work better than stain. Instead of "blotchy".... sell the "character" of the cherry.

[Leigh Betsch]

I went through this same thing last summer. I went with a dye mixed with Target USL, waterborn laquer. The depth is increadable.

I tried Danish oil, didn't like it, too much blotching.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Leigh,
Your finish is wonderful. Can you describe the process. Other than a bit of experimentation, are there tricks to spraying water based lacquer that will be foreign to a person used to solvent based? I assume you used water based dye but did you mix power directly to top coat or dissolve it first? Last but certaily important, since the color is in the top coat, do you worry about the finish chipping and taking the color with it?
Thanks.

Butch

[Leigh Betsch]

You can find my finish schedule in the last post of this thread. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=83174 I don't worry about chipping the dye coat cause I have 10 coats of USL on top of it. It takes a lot of had rubbing and surface leveling, a finish like this doesn't come out of a can. Hibrivar would probably be less prone to chipping and work well for a high use table but I would talk to Jeff Jewit or someone at Target before I did a big project like that.

I'm using the same Finish right now on a couple of small cherry boxes, except I skipped the sanding sealer, big mistake. I'm having trouble getting a level surface. I have to build a very thick top coat so I don't sand into the dye coat. I'm also top coating with Hybivar instead of clear USL and I don't know what to expect as I cut the surface back. Each coat of USL burns into the previous coat and you don't sand thru unless you sand all the way back to the dye coat. But I don't think Hibrvar burns in so when I cut it back I might expose layers of Hybrivar. So a bit of unexplored territory for me.

It's a lot of work to level a surface so if you've never done it before I would do some research so you know what you're getting into. Jeff Jewit has some good info on his web site, search for Homestead Finishing Products, and Bob Flexner's book "Understanding Wood Finishing" is also a good source. A 50" x 10ft table would be a lot of work to hand rub to level surface. I would do it but then I don't try to make money at this.

[Scott Holmes]

If that table top was my project, I would use it to justify buying a twin pad in-line air sander by Hutchins ~$400

[Leigh Betsch]

Leigh,
are there tricks to spraying water based lacquer that will be foreign to a person used to solvent based?
I assume you used water based dye but did you mix power directly to top coat or dissolve it first? Butch

Sorry I forgot to answer your other questions.
Not sure about the differences in spraying solvent based lacquer and waterborne lacquer, I've only used the waterborne.
I used Trans Tint dyes, so they are liquid, mixed directly into the USL and then used after the sanding sealer but before the final USL top coats. A layered system, sanding sealer, level, dyed USL, clear USL top coats, level, polish.
If you want a satin finish you would use steel wool to abrade the final coat but I think you would loose some of he depth in the finish.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Thanks for the help. I always hand rub. I've been dreading the work needed to hand rub this table top but without the final effort all the previous work won't be as good. I'll call Jeff this week.
Butch