I just bought a big slab of cherry and I'm going to turn it into 2 benches to go at the foot of beds in different rooms. (I'm going to use steel for the legs. I've never done this before but I've gotten interested into mixing stainless steel and brass into my designs.)
The question is, the bark on one side is slight damaged so I'm going to rip one side straight (the side against the bed) and leave the bark on the other side. What is the best way to stabilize bark? I usually use a polyurethane finish on cherry but I'm wondering if oil might be better with the bark.
I'm looking for advice from anyone with experience with handling bark.
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