Blotchy Cherry Stain

[Jim]

of_the [e-mail] (todd the wood junkie) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

And if you don't want to wait on natural light, you can always use ~1/2 tsp of lye to 1 cup of water. Darkens it as far as it will ever go in about 10 seconds. The bad news is that all cherry won't get to the same level of darness so you need to do this early and match your pieces. The good news is that if you sand through the darkened wood you just have to re-apply the lye mixture. It darkens up the light wood and leaves the already darkened wood with no change. I've done 2 beds this way and it looks beautiful.

[Jack Casuso]

Thought the rule here was "if your wife wants something, you have to buy a special tool".

[Oughtsix]

I have completely given up on staining wood. I have never been able to make wood look any better than the way god grew it. I choose wood that gives me the darkness of finish I am looking for without having to apply stain.

I use walnut if I want a dark piece. I use cherry if I want a medium piece (The older it gets the better it looks!) I use maple if I want a lite piece. (My favorite wood!) I use oak if I want an ugly piece.