Question for the oldest Creeker

[Billy Chambless]

Don't look at me.....

PS Age = Wisdom? Not always.....

And as a well-known 67-year-old once wrote:

"But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."

[Prashun Patel]

Oldest ain't always the best - especially when it comes to finishing. Machining techniques (sawing, shaping) haven't changed considerably in the past coupla decades. The advances have been mainly in power, safety, convenience, and features.

But finishing materials have radically changed over the decades and centuries. I will ALWAYS defer to the elder statesmen, but in finishing, the oldest technique usually isn't the best.

Flexner's book makes a good point of this.

Ok, I'm off my soapbox.

[Chris Weishaar]

If I put the piece in the sun for a while would it turn noticeably?

Yes it will turn quite a bit. Prior to finishing any cherry I try and leave it out in the sun for a couple of days. It can be tricky making sure each side gets equal sun. If you leave a board out after a few hours the topside will darken and the bottom side will remain light.

I don't have any experience with curly cherry and I am 20 years too young! The oldest piece of cherry furniture that I have is at least 15 years old and it is a cherry and maple bed frame. For that I sanded and scaped everything completely smooth and then just used pure tung oil. I waited quite some time for it to cure, and then polished it out with pumice and rottenstone. It looks great. It has darkened over time but this is one piece where I left everything outside for a couple of days to speed up the contrast between the maple and cherry.

As others have mentioned, some form of oil and varnish would look great. I just did walnut with BLO, dewaxed shellac and urethane and the depth of the grain is just amazing!

Chris

[Ernie Hobbs]

I'm not old enough to answer this question (only 35) but here's how I would do it:

1. analine dye to your color of choice
2. tung oil or antique oil finish
3. amber shellac, sprayed (mixed with denatured alcohol) in multiple very light coats and light sanding between coats
4. wax

Each step has a purpose- the dye gets the piece to a uniform color, the oil "pops" the finish, the shellac provides a little darkening and a durable finish, and the wax shines it up and protects your finish.

[Leigh Betsch]

Ok here is the final product. Not sure I followed anyones advice strictly. But I did settle on a no oil finish, didn't like the blotching and worried about the long term crazing. This is what I did. 2 coats EM8800 clear sanding sealer, 3 dye coats of USL tinted with Red/brown and Dark Walnut to get the color, then 10 coats of USL clear. Cut back and leveled several times and finally polished with Menzerna 1,2 3 compounds. Dead flat surface polished to a high shine finish. Absolutely no blotching, just deep shimmering rays. Looks like the wood itself is lighted from within, way cool. Too bad my photography doesn't show what it really looks like. This finish isn't for everyone, I spent 2 months getting the finish I wanted, stripped it multiple times, sanded through a couple of times. Bought 2 spray guns, 6 gallons of Target waterborne finish, sandpaper,polish compounds, and a drum sander so next time I can veneer the top and not have to plan for wood movement. But I now have a finish schedule that I plan to use a lot. The rails are black EM8000, top coated with black USL. I was thinking I should clear coat them with USL to seal them better and to make sure the black USL doesn't bleed into the clear USL on the cherry top but I ran out of clear USL so I jsut left it black USL with out a clear coat. Now I just have to make a couple of black knobs for the drawers.