Hello all
I am usually lurking over at Breaktime, but have reached the point in my kitchen where I need some real finishing advice. I have installed cherry cabinets from Candlelight cabinets in NY. http://www.candlelightcabinetry.com/company/finish.php
I have a quart of the stain they used on the solid and veneer cherry of the cabinets. I purchased cherry stock for the window and door trim, which will be plain flat stock; 4/4 X 5 for casings/sill and 5/4 X 6 for the top and plinth. Some real nice wood! Now my finishing experience is poly on floors, Waterlox on floors and some wipe on stuff Hormby’s or something like that, so… not much experience.
What I am looking for is a mellow finish, not shiny glass, but reasonably tough (enough for trim) and can be touched up or repaired if scratched, banged into, etc. I do not have to exactly match the color of the cabinets, so I don’t have to use the stain. Also, their top coat is a ‘conversion varnish’ which I understand to be paint gun applied, which I can’t do.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Much thanks
Replies
tongue oil is what you want. though a lot of work for trim. how much do you have to finish?
About 130 board feet.
Bootsy,
That is a pretty dark finish. You say you don't have to exactly match the cabinets, but does that mean that color match is not important, or that close is good enough?
If you don't mind a different color I would suggest an application of boiled linseed oil followed by garnet shellac. An oil only finish offers next to no protection and must be renewed frequently, especially on window trim. Shellac is the easiest finish to repair there is and will stand up to UV exposure for a loooong time with little or no degradation or color shift. Besides cherry finished with garnet shellac is one of the most beautiful combos there is.
Rob
Rob A. ;
Color match is not important. I am using cherry to have a 'grain match', I want to connect to the other wood, but not mimic it. I think that would be overwhelming. Also, I imagine the cherry will end up different shades depending on exposure to light...
As I mentioned before, I am an amateur, so is there a rough guide to prep, like hand sand with 150 to 220, then sand between coats ,etc.
I can search for garnet shellac on this forum as to what to get etc., but any recommendations are appreciated. Thanks
Given the constraints you've spelled out I would suggest either following Rob's suggestion, albeit with whatever shade of shellac floats your boat, or use a high grade wipe/brush on poly.
Something to think about --
1- If you can do whatever finishing before you put the trim up it will be a whole lot easier
2- Give some serious thought to how you will deal with the nail holes, assuming you use nails to attach the trim. If you fill them with some premade wood filler it will not darken as will the cherrywood. In time the filled holes will be grossly evident and look like sh--. I think you will have better luck with a mix of cherry sanding dust and glue. Maybe others have a better idea
I faced the same dilema when I made some built up crown molding for our living room. Built up meaning I made it from several strips of wood each having different profiles and widths, if you get my meaning. The first three layers I simplty nailed/screwed to the walls so the screws were covered by the next layer and to each successive layer until the last one, 4 in total.
On the last one, I drilled holes for screws and counterbored the holes, the smallest I could. I then used the tapered plug cutters from Veritas and made plugs from prefinished scrap pieces to cover the screw holes, then shellaced everything.
It was a royal pita, but it came out quite nice. Unless you get up on a ladder and look real close, you can't see them!
Just my 2¢,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
That sounds very time consuming, but it worked for you. My bro. had his house redone with cherry cabinets and cherry trim. The guy just used some wood filler to fill the nail holes and it looks very amateurish to be polite. Thus the word of warning.....
Yes it was a real pain, but couldn't think of a better way. On another cherry piece I couldn't match anything but real wood that was acceptable. The closest thing I could work with was cherry dust from sanding the parts and mixing it with shellac! That was the closest and the final finish was also shellac so it did work out well enough.
By using screws I could keep them to a minimum which helped, but I will tell you that you can't really see them today.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 3/21/2007 10:44 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled