I’m planning on making a dresser out of cherry. I’m planning on an oil/wax finish, either of my own making or buying something like Osmo, Tried and True or Rubio. In the past when I have made pieces out of cherry, I have gotten a certain amount of blotching. I’ve found that this is somewhat ameliorated over time with the natural darkening that occurs when exposed to light. I generally don’t apply stain or dye, but am open to that if it will help. I’ve tried sanding to a ridiculous degree (up to 600 grit), tried applying oil straight to the finish, vs applying a thinned coat of shellac first. This will be a gift, so I want it to look nice from the beginning.. Thanks for any advice.
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The blotching is caused by grain direction changing along the surface. Which means the surface will absorb finish and reflect light differently along its surface resulting in blotching. The most common approach to deal with blotching is to use Shellac as a sealer/top coat and then apply your finish of choice. In my experience Shellac helps with the blotching but does not eliminate it completely. Go to YouTube and look up Tom McLaughlin's (Epic Woodworking) episode on finishing Cherry, link below. He is an excellent source of information and great craftsman. His suggestions are much more comprehensive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In4xbmq3Kwk
Thanks HDman!
super helpful. I'll review the video and try it out on some trial pieces.
Make sure you are sanding up to 400 grit, that will solve the problem. Chris Becksvoort only works with cherry and that’s all he does. Read his many articles in FW on this topic.
Good luck
Never had blotching with cherry, my guess is that your rough sanding has not been aggressive enough to remove the tear out caused by planing against the grain. You can sand down to the finer grits only to remove the previous sanding marks but if your first pass at sanding has not evened out the machining traces the finer grits will only exacerbate the problem.
Is it truly blotching or chatoyance? Does it change based on the light angle or stay the same regardless.
Good question, it is mild blotching. It is in areas with more figure, possibly where the grain switches from being parallel to the surface to more perpendicular. As John C2 states below, it does get better over time, but I'm hoping it looks good upon completion, rather than a year from now... Thanks to everyone for the input, I have seen really thoughtful feedback on this forum.
Very often the blotching is just figure in the wood. Maple can have fiddleback figure, cherry does not. If the "blotching" gets heavy enough it's called figured cherry. If pin knots in maple become frequent, we call it Birdseye.
In any event, the blotching, if any, evens out over time. Sun and time will always change cherry.
I think there's a difference between figure and blotching. I've seen blotching as irregular areas of greater absorption in straight grain with no discernible figure. It looks darker without any appearance of chatoyance.
I've built numerous pieces of cherry, finished with either Waterlox, Tried&True Danish Oil, or Sealcoat shellac. I've never seen blotching---or if I have, it's never bothered me.
As some have pointed out, cherry ages over time, particularly in its first year. In most cases especially with flat sawn lumber it becomes hard to see the grain--unlike oak, where the grain is always evident. So I wouldn't worry much.
Sanding to 400 really helps and it doesn't take long.
A lot of 18th century furniture, especially in Central Connecticut, used cherry. Mostly because it was a good substitute for mahogany. Which seems odd, because I've never confused the two. But the first time I looked closely at those originals, I was amazed. The old growth cherry they used 250 years ago really darkened, and the growth rings were so tight, the grain mostly disappeared. And it did look very much like the Cuban mahogany of the day.
Cosman has said cherry will lighten, after the darkening phase, if it is near a window.
Yes, while cherry does darken when exposed, I have learned the hard way that over time finished cherry can bleach significantly when exposed to strong sunlight, even through low-e glass. Fortunately the bleaching is pretty shallow—a few swipes with a sharp plane or scraper gets down to fresh unbleached wood, ready for refinishing with a UV-blocking top coat.
Funny you should mention that. I remembered watching a Tom McLaughlin video last week where he said he didn’t know of a sealer that would prevent color change. Some woods require sunlight to change, some not. Between 43 & 44 minutes:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N0E3_4itfLQ
Reminds me of a debate occurring on another forum where the customer bought a solid American black walnut dining table that was seen in the showroom to have strong amber to orange tones only to receive a dark brown, black walnut table. He was told by the manufacturer that black walnut will turn amber and pale with time and he only needs to wait a year for the table to turn like the one he saw !
Alcohol based stain or dye will help with blotching. The oil base stain will darken some areas more than others for one reason or another.