Add Age to Cherry
With this recipe it's easy to get the aged look of cherry furniture without waiting years for the wood to darken.
It’s not difficult to get the aged look of cherry furniture without waiting years for the wood to darken. It starts with stain, thinned with mineral spirits, applied directly to the wood.
Sand the cherry to 220 grit, and then apply a thinned coat of Old Masters Wiping Stain in cedar with a rag or foam brush. Wipe it off immediately, removing all the excess, and let it dry overnight.
1. Start with a Thinned Stain
Another way to control the effect of pigmented stain is to thin it.
2. Seal and glaze
Use SealCoat to form a smooth barrier, and then apply stain as a glaze over the top
Seal and glaze—Now brush on at least two coats of SealCoat shellac, leveling each coat as you go, as with the earlier finishes. You might need a third or fourth coat to create the smooth sheen you need for applying the glaze. Allow the full shellac layer to cure for three to four hours, then sand it lightly to level the surface.
As with the other finishes, a glaze adds depth, and in this case, tones down the redness of the stain. Use Old Masters Wiping Stain in the dark walnut tone, which has a greenish-brown, raw-umber hue, moving the finish toward a more medium red/brown.
Wipe on the glaze with a rag and remove the excess with a dry brush as before. Allow the glaze to dry for at least 12 hours before topcoating with SealCoat or lacquer as you did for the other finishes.
From Fine Woodworking #267
More on Fine Woodworking:
- Great Finishes: Warm Up Walnut – This finish recipe will bring back the warm color of old walnut
- Great Finishes: Pop the Figure in Maple – Most finishing articles and finishing books recommend dying figured maple to accentuate the figure
- Dyes Can Do It All – Color bare wood without blotching, tint topcoats, and touch up blemishes
Fine Woodworking Recommended Products
Foam Brushes
Bumblechutes Bee’Nooba Wax
Bahco 6-Inch Card Scraper
Comments
I am not saying this technique would not work, but I have tried many different methods to get an aged look on cherry. Some work ok, some do not. This technique, and it may be my screen resolution, has an orange look to it. I find the best product is Tried & True cherry wood stain. Takes many days to fully dry but the end product is worth the wait. No VOC's. It's like a thick, gooey molasses consistency.
What will this finish look like when the cherry itself turns dark in time? I like the idea of making the cherry look aged now, but at what price later?
I find sealcoat or shellac works well but it wont hold up for a desktop/any top for that matter. If do I put a coat of poly for the finish coat it will peel off with shellac as an undercoat. I would definitely go with lacquer for the finish coat.
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