Darkening Cherry

[Ken Krawford]

I'm getting ready to finish a small cherry table top and would like to darken the wood prior to applying a clear finish. I'm reluctant to put it in the sun for fear of distorting the wood (twist, cup, warp, etc) and wondered what other people do to accelerate the natural darkening of cherry.

[Prashun Patel]

I wouldn't bother. Just don't use a UV inhibiting finish. It does work to put it in the sun. But IMHO, the darkening continues over time even after the finish is applied and that dwarfs any kickstart you can give to it in a couple days.

[glenn bradley]

I'm with Prashun. I tried suntanning cherry once. Here in sunny SoCal the boards checked in about 20 minutes. fortunately they had not been cut to length yet and I was able to cut away the split. The color change was definite but, nothing that you won't get naturally in about a month if there is any sunlight making it into the room.

[Art Mann]

I have built a lot of stuff out of native black cherry. I frequently leave the project in my South facing sun room with windows on three sides to darken. I have never had a problem with checking, warping, twisting or splitting. I buy my material rough sawn from a sawmill in the county where I live. The owner is thorough and meticulous about kiln drying and quality. As other folks have already mentioned, your project will darken just as quickly with varnish on it unless you use UV resistant material.

[Tony Joyce]

A weak lye solution will oxidize cherry. It works very quickly, do test samples.

[Jim Becker]

As Tony mentions, you can chemically darken Cherry. He mentions one method and there are several. That said, cherry darkens over time no matter what. Sunlight (UV) and other oxidation factors are what ultimately does the job. I don't bother to do anything beyond my normal finishing schedule (oil, shellac, topcoat) and find that in 6-9 months, it's most of the way to the darkness it will ultimately settle on.

[Stan Calow]

Tanning salon?

[Ken Krawford]

Thanks for the information everyone. In the past I have left cherry natural but didn't feel that the natural darkening occurred to the level I desired. I'm using General Finishes High Performance WB Poly on this project and it does say it contains UV inhibitors. I'm not sure how much this will retard the eventual darkening.

[Jim Becker]

UV inhibitors will delay the oxidation that causes cherry to darken. You may want to consider a different water borne product for your project if darkening is important. You'll also want to consider not just using the WB finish if you want color. As I noted, I oil first, user de-waxed shellac to seal and add additional amber and then use WB top coat and that's helpful to get the look I want. Here's an example of post finishing relative to color...it's already getting darker in-situ and that's without direct sun exposure that's not possible in the particular room it's living in. There was sun exposure post-sanding in my shop for a few days, of course, while I was going through the finishing steps.

[Lou Ortiz]

I'm for letting time do the work to darken cherry, if you do it artificially and get it where you want it now, it will be darker in a year. The biggest drawback to sticking it in the sun is uneven heating, top vs bottom of surface. If it's inside an air-conditioned house and exposed to sun, the temps will be much more even.