Hello All, <!—-><!—->
I’m new to wood working and I find it to be very relaxing and enjoyable. My wife and I just purchased our first home and the kitchen cabinets are hideous! After seeing the price tag for new cabinets, I decided to tackle re-facing the cabinets myself. I’ve built all new flat panel doors and currently am in the process of building new drawers.<!—->
The door frames and drawer fronts are solid cherry. The door panels are ¼” cherry plywood and I will be applying a cherry veneer (peel and stick) to the existing cabinet frames. <!—->
I know results will vary because of the three different materials (plywood, veneer and solid wood). What would be my best bet to get an even and durable finish while bringing out the natural beauty of cherry? <!—->
Thanks in advance, <!—->
Russ Gibson
Replies
How about a clear finish??? That's my favorite color, natural cherry
Russ ,
I agree with Migraine , a clear natural finish on Cherry is very dramatic and you will see the mellowing that naturally occurs with Cherry . Why stain and cover up such a beautiful and spendy material .
dusty
Dusty,I agree with you and Migraine. I'm just concerned how the veneer and plywood will accept the finish. what would I used, a hand rubbed polyurethane?
Russ ,
You are correct there will be a variation of tones and colors with the solids and veneers , but that is the beauty of real wood , don't you think ? No matter what finish you use some color variation will occur . I only use Lacquer finishes so I am not a great one to ask about different ones , yup I am sort of a one trick pony when it comes to finishes . I have seen Tung oil rubbed out 3 or 4 coats as well as brushed on Conversion Varnish and it all looks good to me . BTW when describing the many colors and tones to a client , I call it the natural harmony of wood ! If they want it to all look exactly the same I suggest Formica , LOL !
dusty
To better answer you question of evening out the finish, I believe that if you made a reasonable effort to get similar colors of veneers, solid, and plywood, then a natural finish will be a more even color in the long run. When you start applying stain/dyes to various materials, you will get color varions and then you might have to start shading the different materials to match. Another thing is that if you are not that experienced in applying stains/dyes , you can open up another can of worms. You can get an accurate idea of what it will look like just by aplly water or a solvent such as lacquer thinner on a few doors/panels.
I have seen too many qualified woodworkers do a stain sample on a small piece of wood or plywood and they get a color approval from the client. Then, when they try to do the whole job, most of it doesn't come out even. And, cherry does tend to get a blochy finish(light and dark spots where the stain soaks in unevenly). This brings out the possiblity of pretreating the wood prior to staining.
With a simple clear finish, your labor is about 1/3 to 1/2 of a pretreat/stain/shade/finish coat
To get a good idea on how the cherry will age is to put a piece of tape over a part of a sample board andd leave it in the most direct sun light for a few days. Then, remove the tape and you will see a major contrast between the two. To get another idea of what natural cherry looks like, try to find a local furniture srtore that sells shaker style furniture in cherry. Most of these are natural finish or just a little shading done prior to claer coat.
Migraine,
Thanks for the detailed response. Sounds like I can go with a clear W/B polyurethane and call it a day. Thanks for the input!
Russ
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