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Thread: Need to darken a cherry finish.

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Fort Collins, Colorado
    Posts
    447

    Need to darken a cherry finish.

    Hey folks.

    I made a simple vanity for my bathroom that I bought a premade granite top for. I used plain jane cherry and put just BLO on it. Well, I am generally happy with the color but after test fitting the top the cherry needs to be a little redder/ darker. I could live with what i have but darker would be better. Since I put BLO on it am I stuck with that color? Can I spray shellac on it to seal it then use something else to darken it? Doesnt need to be much darker. But I think some red would make it match the granite better.

    Thanks,
    Scott

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Vancouver Island, Canada
    Posts
    50
    Cherry darkens with exposure to sunlight. Put your vanity in the sunshine for a few days and you'll probably notice it take on a darker hue. Cherry takes on such a beautiful hue as it ages...I would suggest giving your vanity a tan before you do anything drastic with other finishes.

  3. #3
    You can darken it with a lye solution. Go to the hardware store and buy a can of lye - they sell it for opening drains. Don't buy drain cleaner because it contains other things besides lye.

    Mix a solution of maybe one tablespoon to two cups of warm water. Try it on some offcuts. If it doesn't do what you want, add a bit more lye and try again. Be careful and protect your eyes. Lye is not horrible at that dilution but if it gets in your eyes it can cause some real damage.

    You'll have to sand the wood to get past the BLO for the lye to work.

    People speak of lye giving an "aged" look to cherry. My opinion is that it darkens the cherry but the look is a bit different than the true aged look.

    My preference is to let sunlight darken cherry. Or just wait a while. Six months in your home and the cherry will darken quite a bit.

    Note: Only the heartwood will darken. The sapwood will not darken but will stay very light, almost white.

    Mike
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    Mike note about a lye solution is a good one, but I'm not sure you can use it now that you've already oiled the piece without significant sanding work to get back to bare wood. Using shellac as a toner is probably more practical and is actually a normal part of my finishing regimen for cherry. You can use a darker (dirtier...) shellac for color or use normal blondish de-waxed shellac (such as Zinsser SealCoat) with some alcohol soluble dye to tone it darker. (Spraying is recommended if you can) But be aware that the cherry will also darken naturally and noticeably over time by itself. Within a year, it will be noticeably darker than it is now, the degree of which is relative to the amount of natural light (UV) exposure there is as well as normal oxidation.

    Oh, using de-waxed shellac insures you can top coat with almost anything you want.
    --

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

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