Cherry Stain Over Oak??

Oak looks like ash normally so that would be simple enough to do.

Cherry over oak is probably going to look like something you stained. If she wants dark, consider fuming the oak. Or send her back out to the yard sales until she comes back with a cherry table. Personally, I don't see anything very natural looking coming out of this.

been stained

How do you stain oak ash?

To answer you question...

You have two choices:

- Strip the item to bare wood, and stain it the color you'd like. Follow with a clear coat. Oak stains very nicely and requires no crazy gyrations to get even coloring.

- Use a tinted clear coat. These are better sprayed, but Minwax "Polyshades" is a home center product available as a brush-on formula. Try it on the bottom, in an unseen area, to see if this is what you want. Brushing on a tinted clear coat is more difficult than spraying as "lap marks" will show up where the bush marks overlap.

Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table. Practice on the bottom of the table.

Got it?

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Another choice:

I'd try using a gell stain over the ash-colored wood. The cherry tone will be darker, and gell stains do NOT have to soak into the wood to work properly. I'd opt for applying it, then quickly removing the excess. If it is too light, do it again.

If gell stains will stain a fiberglass door, they will stain a finished wood piece.

And In case you missed Barry's point--

Practice on the bottom of the table, until it your wife approves of the stain appearance. Then put the finish over part of it and see if you still like it.

Old Guy \

has been stained

Excellent suggestion, better than mine.

I often forget that gel stains work in faux finishing, so they'd probably work well on finished pieces.

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Some great ideas --Thanks! I think I might go with the gel stain first. I can always go with taking it to bare wood and restaining if that doesn't work. Sending wifey out for a cherry table was good too, but she has been looking for one (tea table) for a couple years! The only one we found was over $400! Today we got this oak one, perfect in every way except it is not cherry, for only $25! Thanks, John

Cool...

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