Does anybody know how to prevent cherry to age (darken)? I’ve received an advice to treat the finished product with proxide based bleach (A and B parts) to a desired shade and finish it with water based poly.
I have a customer who is very much concerned that the pieces will turn into some antique looking pieces after few years.
Advise anybody?
Cheers.
Replies
Hmmm. That darkening patina is one of the wood's most attractive features. You can use cherry that is mostly sapwood- as it does not darken as much as the heartwood. You can keep it out of the sun.
Or just use maple.
Glaucon
If you don't think too good, then don't think too much...
If your customer doesn't like the aging of cherry, back up now and find a different wood. In the long run, cherry will behave according to its nature (like most of us) no matter what you throw at it now.
DR
Mane, methinks the customer needs educating. However if he still insists on Cherry you can slow down the onset of that beautiful colour change process by applying Zinsser BullsEye shellac sealer coat before your finish coat.Good luck.
Couple of points. Cherry ages in two ways. One is by exposure to sunlight(UV) and the second is by oxidation. The latter will occur in the absence of sunlight.
A/B bleach is used to remove all the natural color from a wood. Using it on cherry will make the cherry look almost white. It won't prevent the wood from later changing color to some extent.
Acrylic(waterborne) finishes do have the characteristic of adding little color when they are applied and they do have some UV protective qualities.
But when it's all said and done, cherry will darker over time. Most of the darkening takes place in the first couple of years.
Like others, I would recommend use a different wood. But all wood will change color over time.
If you want a wood with almost the same initial color as cherry but which will not darken nearly as much consider red birch. Or take another wood--maple perhaps--and dye it to the cherry color that he wants. That makes a lot more sense, and would be easier to boot. There is just no point trying to make cherry not change color.
Contrary to the advise of others, there IS one way (and only one way) to keep cherry from darkening with age -- Paint it!
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
I might argue that it still darkens under the paint.
Very funny Steve, but true.
No matter what you do to cherry, it will darken with age. This is the natural patena that developes after finishing. Maybe your customer doesn't realize that the natural darkening gives the piece more character. Talk to him and see if he wants the furniture made of a different wood. Mahogany has a reddish brown color similar to cherry, but not the figure of cherry, and is easier to work. Filling the grain of mahogany is a minor problem if you want to do that, but the end result is what counts.
Thanks guys, I think I will have a chat with my customer. Cheers.
Apply sunscreen, reapply every 12-15 hours.. 30 should do it.
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