cherry finish

[cameron bailey]

I have two pieces to finish. One is a cherry flag case with ebony spline joints, And the is a floating shelf out of cherry with wenge splines. I have never worked with cherry before and have very little experience finishing wood. I have sanded to 220 and have alot of product on hand to work with. What would you guys use? This is what I have.
General Finishes, seal-a-cell clear, arm-r-seal semi gloss topcoat, salad bowl finish and burnt amber glaze. Watco Danish oil, BLO, Zinsser bulls eye shellac, mineral spirts, acetone, Naphtha, minwax poly and Defthane poly clear rattle can.
Thanks for any info.

[Prashun Patel]

I'm partial to shellac on cherry pieces that don't get a whole lotta touching. So I'm gonna vote BLO followed by Zinsser Sealcoat on the flag case. But, on a floating shelf the ArmRSeal will probably do nicely.

Ebony and cherry. YUM!!!! Post some pix, yo!

[Pat Germain]

I happen to be working on a cherry shadow box/flag case myself. After letting it bathe in the sun for awhile, I put on one coat of shellac. I then followed up with three coats of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal. As far as I can tell, Seal-A-Cell is just thinned-down Arm-R-Seal. So, I no longer bother with Seal-A-Cell. The shellac base coat prevents blotching which can happen with the Arm-R-Seal on cherry.

I usually put on a few coats of Arm-R-Seal clear and then one coat of satin. This tends to look a little better than several coats of satin. However, this box is for a Navy Surface Warfare Officer (SWO). Since SWOs like shiny things, this box will get all Arm-R-Seal clear.

So, for each or your pieces, I would recommend one coat of shellac followed by several coats of Arm-R-Seal. I knock down each coat with 0000 steel wool before applying another. You can also use fine sandpaper. It's a matter of personal preference. But it's a must to knock down between coats.

[Scott Holmes]

One adjustment to the advice given...

3 reasons why I say never use steel wool on bare wood or between coats…

Reason #1 Poly does not stick well to itself or anything else for that matter, which is why they tell you to sand between coats. Steel wool abrades the finish; it does not give enough "tooth" for poly to adhere well. 220 sand paper 320 at the finest.

Reason #2 you will leave shards of steel wool behind; then you will top coat it. Now you have steelwool IN your finish; when water vapor gets to it, and it will, it will RUST - IN YOUR FINISH.

Reason #3 Many steel wool products have oil to keep them from rusting so now you have oil on your surface... bad idea. See reason one again.

[Pat Germain]

I can understand the concern about steel wool. But I've been using steel wool between coats for years. I thoroughly vaccuum and give the work a good wipe down before proceeding to the next coat. I've never had a problem with bits of steel left behind. I've also never had a problem with oil in the steel wool. Maybe I just got lucky with the particular kind I buy. Also, it seems to leave plenty of tooth behind for the next coat.

I learned this method from David Marks. He also gets good results using 0000 steel wool. Whenever I've used sandpaper, it didn't work as well for me. I'm sure I could get sandpaper to work well if I kept at it. But since the steel wool is working for me now, I'll stick with it.

As I said, it's a matter of personal preference which seems to be common with finishing. I've talked to people who will use nothing but danish oil, nothing but BLO, nothing but a personal blend, etc. Some people prefer a hand scraped preparation over sandpaper. Others, like me, end up with scraper marks without sanding.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Pat,
A few months ago I wrote David Marks and told him I wasn't able top get the same fine finish as he does with just a scraper. He very kindly wrote back and told me in real life, he sands after scraping to finalize the finish. I read Creekers talking a lot about finishing cherry with boiled Linseed Oil or some other clear oil. That type finish is very forgiving and since the pores aren't getting colored much the imperfections don't show up as badly. However, if you need to color cherry with stain, or if you intent to spray a somewhat glossy chemical top coat you will want every scratch gone. I sand cherry as fine as I can and still get the wood to take color. I've already gone as far as to burnish the bare wood with steel wool with only positive results. However, I stain and topcoat with products that don't require the same "bite" needed for poly.
fmr

[John alder]

I have done scroll work in cherry,I never try to stain it.I coat the sanded wood with lemon oil to bring out the grain, wipe it down,hang it to dry in warm sun for as long as possible,and coat it with acrylic or lacquer spray. The attached project has a cherry base.John

[Jeff Monson]

My personal favorite on cherry, is sand to 220, blo, 1 coat of amber shellac and a topcoat of choice. The amber shellace warms the cherry right up!!

[Scott Holmes]

I agree with the boiled linseed oil (BLO) or shellac to pop the grain, then, finish of choice.

Your "lemon oil" (usually mineral oil with color and scent added) is a non drying oil.

BLO is a drying oil.

[Jerry Olexa]

My preferred cherry finish:

Sand to 220
BLO
Dewaxed Garnett Shellac padded (often this is enough)
Top Coat of your choice if you prefer

I avoid steel wool because of my concern about the residue.

HTH

[Kirk Smith]

For the Cherry, I like to sand it to 320 grit, few coats of tried and true to bring the grain to almost 3d.

[Christopher Kanda]

Q, when you say "shellac", what exactly do you mean?

[Scott Holmes]

Shellac is type of finish. What is your question about shellac?

[Tim Mahoney]

I do what Kirk does. I use it on my guitars as well. I love putting that first coat on and watch the wood dance. I finish sand to 400 then 1st coat. I also use 0000 steel wool inbetween coats. For someone who loves the woodworking part and hates the finish part it works for me.

[Bill Rogers]

I am looking for a confirmation that it "safe" to use Zinsser's Amber Shellac (it does not state that it is dewaxed) under Pratt & Lamberts 38 Varnish. What I read in a previous thread is that you can use a waxed shellac under an oil based alkyd or phenolic varnish. True or False?

Bill