Hello all I’m new to this list: I’m refacing my kitchen cabinets with 3/4″ cherry and have found that some of the stock I bought is much darker than other boards. Some of the cherry is almost white. I used a watco fruitwood oil after 320 sanding on it and found that most looked great, but the whiter boards still looked too white. And that’s after many, many coats. Then I used a minwax cherry stain and did get it a bit darker, but , alas, it is still not like the other sections. Anyone been here? Help! I know Cherry gets darker with time and uv exposure and I did read an article on fuming oak once, but I need a way to stain down the lighter sections of the allready installed cherry.
Thanks so much for any help,
Marcus
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The white wood is called sap wood. It's from the living part of the tree just below the bark. The heartwood is the part of the tree that is the darker almost pinkish brown.
Sapwood is not considered a defect in grading cherry. If it can not be cut out, you will have to dye it to make it blend in with the darker heartwood. Remember though, that cherry heartwood darkens with exposure to UV and oxygen. The sapwood does not. So the best thing to do, is to suntan the cherry by putting it out in the sunlight for a few hours each day for 3-5 days. This will get a jump start on the color deepening and then you can dye the sapwood and blend it in with the heartwood.
The current issue of FWW has an article by Jeff Jewitt on doing this with walnut heartwood and sapwood.
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