dye on curly cherry?

[Stan Calow]

I am familiar with using dye to enhance the flame of curly maple (that is, dyeing and sanding back). I am wondering if dye or anything else will work on curly cherry too. I normally just use BLO and shellac on curly cherry, but it occurred to me that maybe there's a way to increase that contrast. I only have a small amount to work with so i'd like to learn from someone else's experience.
Thanks for any input.

[Jim Becker]

It may or many not help. Unlike with something like curly Maple where darkening the absorbent part of the grain pattern and then sanding back the rest results in a lot of contrast (especially with several applications), cherry is already a darker color to begin with. (and gets darker with time) Honestly, I'd try this on a sample before committing to it so as to insure you're not wasting your time. I've never personally put dye on cherry--I just oil it for "pop", so I can't speak from experience.

[Brett Robson]

I've built several pieces out of, or in part of curly cherry. I've dyed all of them. Jim's correct in stating that you wont get as strong of a contrast as with a dye on curly maple, but it will give you some.

On all of my pieces, I have noticed that as the cherry has darkened with age, I've lost some of the contrast from the curl. They still show it, it's just not as pronounced.

[glenn bradley]

A great technique if you want to pop the curl.

[Bradley Gray]

I use red devil lye (1-2 Tbs/gallon of water) to darken cherry much as age does. I raise the grain with water and sand and then apply the lye solution, allow to dry and smooth with a grey abrasive pad.

The lye solution leaves sapwood light, unlike dye.

[Stan Calow]

Thanks all for input. Yes, I have done maple this way several times. I've used lye on cherry before too. I just want to enhance the curl, not darken everything. I'll go ahead a run a test piece.

[roger wiegand]

I love curly cherry and have used it quite a bit. One of the things I really like is that I don't have to do anything to it to have it look stunning. Sand, apply whichever oil-based finish I'm happy with at the moment, then watch as beautiful color and contrast develop. I've never felt the need to enhance something that already looks so good. It is such a pleasure compared to the trials and tribulations of the rituals to pop the curl in maple (which I also do a lot). For me part of the fun of building with cherry is watching the color develop over time, so I've never been interested in the lye trick.

[Prashun Patel]

YMMV,

But for my money, the biggest bang for the buck is using an oil based finish or shellac. These finishes alter the way light penetrates the top layers of the wood cells. It can make them appear translucent and irridescent. On curly maple and cherry, they can make the piece appear 3 dimensional. Waterbased finishes do not do this as much.

Using a dye and sanding back on a curly wood can darken certain areas relative to others which accentuates certain areas, but doesn't necessarily make them appear 3-d.

I suspect that because cherry darkens over time, any dye effect may dwindle over time, which may be why the technique isn't as popular as on maple.

I would love to see your tests.

[Stan Calow]

My quick and dirty test with dye on curly cherry using the technique used on maple. in first photo, on the left half, I used a strong solution of reddish/brown Transtint, sanded back three times at 150. Then a coat of BLO on top half, followed by two coats of clear shellac. So clockwise from top left: (dyed, sanded, BLO, shellac); (BLO, shellac); (shellac only); (dyed, sanded, shellac).

The Bottom line, since the photos don't show much detail, is that dye & sanding added less to the contrast in curly figure than BLO, but either way, some blotching shows up. The second photo is using cherry toned danish oil, which is what I am going to go with on this project.


photo 1 cherry.jpgphoto 2 cherry watco.jpg

[John TenEyck]

Thanks for posting those results Stan. My results on cherry with BLO were similar - I got blotching. I suspect the blotching you got on the dyed specimens with no BLO, however, was because you flooded on the dye or wiped it on heavy, yes? I've gotten blotching when I've done that, but if you spray it on it won't blotch.

Comparing your specimens the Danish oil one looks muted, although maybe it will look better after you put a clear coat on it. I think you would get greater depth and clarity, while still accentuating the curl and avoiding blotching, if you sprayed on the dye. If you use Transtint you'll have to spray on the first coat of shellac. If you use Transfast, however, you can use any technique you want to apply the shellac.

John

[Stan Calow]

John yes I did put the dye on heavy -trying to replicate my maple process. It does seem that cherry curl did not absorb the dye like maple. The Danish oil does look pretty muted, but I guess I'm agreeing that the natural darkening of the cherry will eventually overwhelm any attempt at highlighting figure. Plus I like the overall coloring of the d-oil. I will however, give spraying the dye a shot for the next project.

[Bradley Gray]

+1 on spraying transtint dye - way better results. I was never able to apply the dye without blotching, especially on large areas like table tops and door panels.

I recently bought an extra sprayer (HF $16) just for dye.

I now I keep poly in my HVLP gun and the dye mixed with water in the other for the duration of a project, so I can spray both on a batch of parts.