I am building a ‘chess box'(?) to contain the pieces and have the board on top. The board slides out and has a plain wood surface on the reverse. Because the ends of the top would be sharp if it were mitered – as are the case sides – and prone to damage I have decided to not miter the top.
That leaves me with cherry end grain as shown in the figure.
Does anyone have a suggestion for finishing that end grain so that it will not be darker than the rest of the cherry sides?
I am considering shellac with wax as the finish for the cherry.
Replies
You could just miter the corner and glue on short returns: no end grain, no sharp corners.
I have used a lot of cherry in my various projects. I have found (and this is true for other species as well) that if you sand the end grain through a grit or two finer than the rest of the surfaces; maybe 240 or 320 grit. This puts a very nice polish on the end grain and it then doesn't soak up so much color from the stain. I particularly like using gel stains (oil based) as I find I can control the color better.
_MJ_ has the method I would follow. I do a lot of Greene and Greene so I deal with a lot of purposely exposed end grain. I sand these to a higher grit to control the color/absorption of the finish. You could experiment on some scrap. For a 220 grit sanded face grain I would sand the end grain to 600 or higher depending on the material.
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