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Thread: Highly figured curly cherry

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
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    Lindon, UT
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    50

    Highly figured curly cherry

    I want to build a 15 drawer shaker cabinet like the one Christian Becksvoort builds. I have some beautiful curly cherry I would like to use but only have enough for the drawer fronts. I plan on giving this to my daughter as a wedding gift. I really need some advice on finish for the project. 1-doing a dye or stain on the case and blo or other more natural finish on drawer fronts. 2- everything with a blo natural finish and let cherry age. 3- different wood species on case curly cherry drawer fronts everything getting a blo finish. I would like to do the case in cherry since I have enough on hand. I'm just worried about how it will look with heavily figured drawer fronts and a more plain looking case. I have limited experienced in finish techniques. I usually use blo or trie and true products. What does everyone think. I'm willing to try other finishes.
    thanks
    jason

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    WNY
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    Plain cherry for the case would really show off those curly cherry drawer fronts. I don't see any downside. But if you want to make the drawer fronts stand out even more you could consider maple or some other light wood for the case. If you chose birdseye maple you'd have some amazing eye candy. You have lots of options with finishing it, too, but I would not use BLO. My own testing showed no benefit with BLO, at least on plain cherry, compared to shellac. Maybe it would help bring out the contrast on the curly cherry; I just don't know. You could dye both the plain cherry case and curly drawer fronts the same color, or you could make one a lighter or darker hue. You could just use shellac on the whole thing, either blonde or one with some color in it. Shellac is a classic finish, but not one I typically use because I've never spent the time to learn how to French polish and to apply shellac with a brush just leads to heartache. When I use shellac I typically spray it. Or you could use the finish Becksvoort uses; doesn't provide much protection but it sure looks nice. An oil/varnish mix would give you more protection and a wiping varnish like Arm-R-Seal or Waterlox would give you a lot more protection and are pretty easy to apply. The list goes on and on. It really depends upon what look you want. What look do you want?

    John
    Last edited by John TenEyck; 12-20-2014 at 9:03 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    I would leave the cherry natural color. It will seem pretty light colored when you get done, but within a year it will noticeably darken no matter what finish you put on it. It will continue to darken with additional time all on its own. The drawer fronts will be the most noticeable parts so use your best wood for the drawer fronts and top. Use plain cherry for the sides and face frames.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    It's a normal build methodology to use straight-grained material for things like rails, stiles, legs, etc., when drawer fronts, door fronts, etc., are of highly figured material. Just try to select material that is of similar color so the piece will have the same overall tone upon completion. Many of us consider it "sinful" to use dye or stain on cherry...it darkens beautifully over time. Personally, I use a very thin coat of BLO followed by a barrier coat of dewaxed shellac to develop the richness of color and grain emphasis before top coating with water borne finish. Some folks don't like this because they are not fond of what they call "blotching", but for me, that's just the figure of the wood popping. Subjective thing...
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
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    Jason, I am no expert, but the best looking (and feeling) cherry project I've made was a box, sanded way up in the thousands in grit, and then finished in cherry-flavored danish oil. the tinted danish oil has just enough color to even out the differences between pieces.

  6. #6
    If you are inexperienced as you say, I'd skip the dye.

    I like a wiping varnish or oil-varnish on most things cherry. I like to sand to 400 or 600 grit, then just wipe on wipe off a few coats of ov blend (like Watco Danish oil or Minwax semigloss poly mixed 33ish% with mineral spirits and BLO). Cherry is wonderful to finish this way for a couple reasons. It's closed pored, so it builds a nice, even sheen quickly. Sanding to a higher grit does not seem to impede the oil from penetrating the curly parts nicely. Oil also makes cherry a golden amber color that only gets deeper and darker with time. But even freshly done, it can look wonderful.

    As for mixing curly and 'normal' cherry, I don't mind the look. I had to do it on a recent writing desk I made and I was not displeased with the contrast. The drawer fronts/top/legs are curly cherry. The rails and dividers are from different, straight grained stock. This is about the 2 ends of the spectrum of how fresh cherry seems to finish for me. I finished this with Watco Teak Oil, only because I had it on hand. Danish oil or poly mixed with BLO and mineral spirits would have been as easy.

    http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ompleted/page3
    Last edited by Prashun Patel; 12-22-2014 at 2:21 PM.

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