Stupid cherry aging question...

[David F. Eisan]

Dear All,

This is so off the wall, I cannot wait for C-less to chime in, but...

As some of you have seen, I am working on a small cherry clock right now. On my last cherry clock I did lye dye job and I really liked the deep red cherry look, as did the person I gave the clock to. This time though, I am treading heavily on the Shaker tradition and I think I might end up getting haunted if I dye the clock with lye.

I know someone who owns a tanning bed and I was wondering if I put the clock on the tanning bed for a period of time if it would age the cherry quickly?

Thoughts?

Seeing as the sun is soon to never rise again here in the GWN until spring again, I don't have the option of just leaving it outdoors on sunny days for a week like youse guys down south do.

Any other options for artificially quickening the darkening process of cherry?

Thanks,

David.

Every neighbourhood has one, in mine, I'm him.

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[Swingman]

My guess is that it is not "off the wall" and that it would work. Likewise with black lights, or any source of UV.

[Swingman]

My bet is that UV light would work to darken the cherry, but the quality of the color could certainly be tested with a scrap piece of the same project under UV ... who knows, it may be what he's looking for.

[Phisherman]

Don't do it, you'll likely be disappointed. Let the cherry age on its own for a beautiful color. I keep cherry out of the sunlight.

[Charlie Self]

David Eisan asks:

Well, a deep mahogany stain....No? When you stop screaming, I suggest you take a couple boards and stick them in your pal's tanning bed. Make them freshly machined and see what a few hours does.

Who knows. It just might work. Sounds at least semi-logical, anyway.

And report the results, please. Inquiring minds would like to know. As would us nosy bastards.

Charlie Self

"Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle." Bob Hope

[Alan Bierbaum]

All lye does is speed up the natural process; it is not a stain or artificial color. The Shakers approved of modern technology and were very adaptive to mass production for use by outsiders (chair factory, etc.). Have at it!

[Abe]

David -- I did a quickie cherry-aging job earlier this year by leaving the finished article in the sun on my driveway for a few afternoons. This substantially darkened the cherry, though it was not a substitute for normal aging. I rotated the object occasionally to get uniform coverage. If it's too late for that, you might want to use the lye method again. It's not a dye, but a sort of accelerant. If Shaker ghosts bother you afterward you can threaten them with a can of stain.

Abe

[George]

NOOOOO!

The surface'll turn ugly gray and lose a lot of chatoyance. Make sure you've got a coat or two of cut linseed in it before you try the UV.

Nice thing about air-dried cherry is that it's already got some maturity on the patina when you use it. KD stuff is generally steamed at the last to relieve case-hardening, and it looks sorta muddy and light.

[donald girod]

Why can't we just wait and enjoy the natural coloring process, which takes at most a year, especially if you use linseed oil on the cherry first. Sunlight can actually BLEACH the color,for what it's worth.

[Swingman]

Did a little research. According to Michael Dresdner, it works ... FWTW. I'd still try it on a test piece of the project wood.

[Larry Blanchard]

You've got to be kidding. I've got cherry stuff I built 10 years ago and it still gets a little darker every year. I'll be dead long before it gets deep red (if cherry actually does that without stain).

[Bob N]

I have a set of cherry chairs that I finished with linseed oil and beeswax and placed in the dining room (window faces north). Within a month they were deep red. Now it's three years later but I can't tell any difference since the first year.

[Fly-by-Night CC]

Hi David. I ain't SansCee, but perhaps you'll take a liking to my response.

I have many thoughts. Deep thoughts. Not so deep thoughts. Thoughts that will surely make me go blind. (BTW, I like those thoughts the best.) But I only have ONE thought when it comes to finishing cherry.

Fume it. Fume it with ammonia just like you do the white oak. Then finish off with an oil (then varnish or shellac if desired). I guarantee you'll love it - or else you can just dispose of that clock by sending it to me so's you won't have to look at it any longer.

Somewhere's around here, I gots pitchers of a fumed quartersawn cherry hand mirror I Valentined my wife a couple years back. Let me see...

Ah yes, here you go:

This item was fumed about 12 hours. Don't forget what Paully would say.

[Silvan]

LMAO... Minwhacks "Red Cherry" at that! :)

[Larry Jaques]

On Sat, 25 Oct 2003 20:11:30 GMT, "David F. Eisan" brought forth from the murky depths:

(I would have done a bong but after what recently happened to Tommy...plus, I'm no longer a Californicator.)

I was from California, so I'm all for that tanning bed idear. It'll "naturally" darken it, not artificially darken it so it becomes -black- by this time next fall.

What a concept. I cannot grok that fully, Davey.

Jes don't stuh-AIN it, suh.

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[Gerald Ross]

[JGS]

[Roger and Missy Behnke]

If the Shaker ghosts wouldn't approve of lye, shy would the like a tanning bed any better?

Roger

[Larry Jaques]

On Sun, 26 Oct 2003 07:30:58 -0500, JGS brought forth from the murky depths:

Owie, tell him about the time you used the -wrong- method to check the Scary Sharp(tm)ness of your guillotine.

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[Philip Edward Lewis]

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(my favorite urinal quote as well... ;)