Hello, I'm finishing my first project working with cherry and would like some opinions regarding a good/nice finish. I have no experience with finishing wood and really need to know a good process.
I'd like to have a high gloss finish. I've used a clear shellac on another table and it looked really nice.
Thoughts?
Jim
I wiped on Bartley's Gel Varnish on a cherry table recently and was happy with the results.
todd
How busy is the table?
Wipe-on Poly or homebrew thinned poly will give good protection from the common stuff. Use the gloss, which is tougher than satin, and transparent. If you're a real shine lover, hard wax, else soft will take the edge off, while maintaining a look into the wood transparency.
Otherwise, shellac will certainly do, and can be buffed to a real gloss if you care to. More vulnerable to certain things, but easily repaired.
Blonde shellac looks great on Cherry. But being a table, note that shellac doesn't like water (like condensation from a glass), heat, alkalyne liquids, or alchohol. But it is easy to repair, and rubs out nice.
On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 09:02:41 -0400, Jim Bates calmly ranted:
I've seen Frank Klausz' application of Waterlox on a cherry table and it rocks. Give it a try.
I've used Minwax Antique Oil finish on several cherry projects. It's a wipe on/wipe off mixture of linseed oil and varnish. Two coats gives a nice satin finish and additional coats can be "built-up" and rubbed with 0000 steel wool to give a high gloss. The cherry cradle on my web site has about 10 coats:
I've never used Waterlox high gloss but their satin builds nicely. The sealer/finish doesn't build much at all but is thin enough to penetrate. I re-finished my maple floors with two coats of sealer/finish followed by two coats of satin --- after two years there are a few scuffs but it is holding up well under the strain of two boys and a golden retriever. I'm planning on at least patching the scuffed areas this fall. The floor is about 85 years old, about 10% of the boards have birds-eyes, 20% tiger stripes. Waterlox really made the birds-eye boards pop. If your project weren't a flat spot with probable water issues, my knee jerk reaction would be a few coats of Danish oil with a nice wax job.
hex
-30-
Something I tried that came out great: boiled linseed oil, followed by about six coats of Waterlox. The linseed oil brings out the beauty of cherry, and the Waterlox made a hard, glossy finish. I learned this technique at my local Woodcraft store. I used it on some cherry furniture that's not quite antique, but that had sentimental value in my family. All who have seen it were impressed with the result. Hope this helps!
On 1 Jul 2004 07:13:33 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (hex) calmly ranted:
I use the original now (cheaper, more clear) and degloss/paste wax the last coat.
Yeah, that's the tung and linseed oils working. I've found the tung + varnish an extremely hard finish, too. And OH so much easier to touch up than polyurinestain.
------------------------------------------------------------ California's 4 Seasons: Fire, Flood, Drought, & Earthquake --------------------------------------
First there was RBS, now polyurinestain. You certainly have an interesting way of putting things.
-Rick
On Fri, 02 Jul 2004 14:58:08 -0700, Rick Nelson scribbled:
Ackshally, unlike RBS & Radio Alarm Saw, polyurinestain is not a LJ original. Google reveals that the first use of polyurinestain (at least spelled that way) goes back to 1997 by the late and highly esteemed Paully Rad:
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