[jdixon]

Hello, I have a chest of drawers made of cherry that I have removed the finish from and sanded down. My question is what should I do with it now?:blink: I would like to keep it original and let it darken naturally with age so does this mean just using a couple coats of poly on it. How do all of you prefer to finish cherry wood? Thanks in advance for your help.

John

 

[PK.]

I'd just use Watco oil myself because I don't like furniture to look plastic. There's plenty of cherry furniture that's made it well past 100 years with nothing more. You could also mix up a spirit varnish or use one of the "old-timey" oil varnish mixtures. Then just wax it every year or so.

 

[jodiemeglio]

I'm no expert but I normally use a high gloss first coat to make the cherry really stand out. Semi-gloss and satin look really good applied to the high gloss. High gloss looks pretty good too but I like shiny...

 

[mmwood_1]

Really depends on the look you want. P.K. 's watco suggestion works well.(use 'natural' , not the 'cherry') Readily available, easily applied, easily maintained, and natural looking. You can wet sand it on with 400grit paper for a really silky finish. As long as you're not getting it wet, you're good. For more depth, you can apply paste wax after the watco dries.

 

[PK.]

Yeah definitely the natural. I use their walnut tint on oak and that looks neat, but other than that it's the natural oil for me. If you need to tone it a little, try colored wax.

 

[jdixon]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll go with the Watco oil and finish with a wax. Any hints or tips for the application of either item or is it pretty straightforward? Do you have a wax that you prefer? Thanks again!

John

 

[pinkus411]

Finish line!!

In my opinion you should use an oil, normally hand rubbed. The oil will allow the wood to naturally darken and also you won't get the polyurethane plastic look. The Hutch I built below has 2 coats of tung oil rubbed on. I let the tung oil dry and then put 3 coats of hand rubbed shellac, darkest flakes I could find. The finish has satin luster. That piece was finished 1 year ago, now the hutch is at least 3 shades darker which is what I think you are trying to achieve. It is a lot of steps and it gets messy but its truly hard to screw up as long as you have patients. Oh yeah sand with 220 grit or finer between coats and a scothbrite pad rubbing after the final coat. Good Luck!!

 

[gineer67]

Go to http://www.woodworkingonline.com/ and view podcast #28. This should answer your questions. I watched it the other day and it's pretty good.

 

[jimmiet.]

my favorite is spar varnish, pure turpintine and linseed oil wipe on finish. when done right it is low luster finish which pops the wood grain makes it shimmer in the light and ages naturaly. and is a renewable finish. almost the same as watco but you can control the mix on each consecutive coat. (less oil more varnish each time by adding to mix. Or tried and true varnish mix.