[OP]
Member
I have an American Woodworker magazine from April 2002 that has an article on darkening Cherry by chemical reaction.
The article was about a product by Old Growth Solutions. This company sold a kit with an activator and catalyst for chemically aging cherry.
The website given was www.ecostain.com. However, this website no longer exists and I cannot find this product.
Does anyone know anything about this company and is this product available anywhere?
Contributor
You can darken cherry with lye. You can get it as drain cleaner - but get the pure lye and not the stuff with other things in it. Make up a solution of about one tablespoon in 16 oz of water and brush it on the cherry.Originally Posted by Mike Conley
Do some scrap first and adjust the amount of lye to get the darkness you want.
Mike
[added note] This will NOT darken sapwood - only the heartwood.
Last edited by Mike Henderson; 01-27-2007 at 11:05 PM.
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Member
A wipe down with BLO will also help to darken cherry more quickly. Then set it in the sun. Using lye scares me for some reason.
Moderator
Mike, I bought some “Old Growth Solutions” that was supposed to mimic “fuming” on white oak. I did several test pieces and in my opinion, it wasn’t even close to looking like fumed WO. As I recall, they got shut down due to safety/environmental issues with the chemicals.
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