Jack,
If it’s the same article I remember I wasn’t much impressed. I thought he unfairly dismissed other tried and true solutions in a rather cavalier manner. (Of course if he didn’t find something wrong with everything else he wouldn’t have anything to write about.) Specifically he said shellac was difficult to apply, without explanation, and then went on to an equally offhand dismissal of the next venerable product.
For any wood with a propensity for blotching I’ve always used shellac with 100% success. A proper mix of shellac is probably the most forgiving film-type finish. Mistakes are easily fixed with alcohol and 0000 steel wool or the wool with more shellac. If it’s completely FUBARed it can pretty much be removed with nothing more than alcohol and wool–even if that doesn’t completely remove the shellac it will at least even it out.
I always mix my own. For a wash coat I generally mix about a one pound cut. With more dramatic colored stains I will cut that to maybe a one-half pound cut. Shellac comes in lots of different shades, from dark sienna to strawberry blonde; so I use it as a colorant, as a compliment to whatever stain I’m using. You can alternate “coats” of stain and a thin cut shellac. By putting a thin wash coat of shellac between layers of stain you can use different colors of stain without them mixing and turning to mud. For example, I often will put a golden oak stain over darker stains; it seems to brighten the wood, bring out the highlights and help to make that “see down into the wood” look we all so love.
My advice: try shellac as an anti-blotch treatment. Experiment on some scrap. Start with a one pound cut and your stain. If that’s not the look you want you can vary the strength of the shellac and/or layer the shellac and stain.
(Sorry this is so long. With little encouragement I can get quite verbose.)
Alan
Replies
Jack,
I'm finding out all kinds of stuff about staining cherry these days. I'm working on a job that has a lot of figured cherry involved and the owner wanted stain samples. Although I've done a lot of work with cherry over the years, I never had anyone who wanted it stained before.
So I tried a variety of things, over a variety of things. One of which was to saturate a highly figured cherry board random orbited to 180 then hand sanded to 220 with cheap mineral spirits. When the majority of the board had dried, I applied various general finishes oil stains and then wiped them. Many hours later, about 18 the entire thing had dried without blotching, and the cherry took as dark a stain as I gave it. My reasoning for trying this approach was that if all the areas that would blotch were still wet with clear mineral spirits, how much excess stain could those areas take on to cause blotching? It seemed to work fine.
I also removed a cherry door that had been sprayed with nothing but lacquer several years earlier, and which had begun to take that old cherry look to show the customer: and the customer decided to go with no stain at all- so I (thankfully) still have not yet been forced to stain a wood highly prized for its natural color.
Nontheless, I will do a washcoat of shellac prior to lacquering anyway, because I seem to get a much better first coat of lacquer over a wash coat than over bare wood. It also results in much better coverage and less darkening of the end grain on raised panels.
You may want to try out the "cheap spirits" wash on large scrap and see what you think, especially if you are going dark.
Good luck,
Clampman
Thanks for the response. I'll do some experimenting but your method sounds good. The project I'm doing is to match other pieces which are stained. I have the required stain. My preference would be to leave the cherry natural however the choice isn't mine. Thanks again.
Jack
Jack - I've always had good luck with Old Masters Penetrating stains. They are oil based and seem to penetrate cherry well without the blotchies. Get some if you can find it and try it on a scrap board. I flood it on and let it set a while then rub it all off with a wet (paint thinner) rag. Then I go over it with a brush dampened with the stain and feather it in. It is not a sealing type stain like Min-Wax (hate that stuff) and multiple coats can be applied. I don't sand Cherry past 220 grit when staining it. Their Cherry stain is the closest thing I've found to the look of aged Cherry lumber.
You can mix your own conditioner by using about 1/2 cup poly varnish with 1qt paint thinner. Let it set a couple of days before staining. It basically just gives the surface a more uniform, though dimished, absorbancy rate.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy
PlaneWood
Thanks for the respone to my cherry finishing problem. The project has to be stained to match other pieces which are stained. I have the product which was used on the other pieces - it is a commercial mix made originally to finish the original pieces and it is likely my best chance to reproduce the color on the other pieces. But before using it I want to explore condtioners and possible other products as I've had some horror stories with cherry in the past. I will try your mix suggestion for a conditioner. Thanks again.
Jack
Jack - what kind of stain is it that you will use on the cherry? Some stains work very well without a conditioner, some work with a conditioner, and some don't work. I'd try a sample of the stain on bare wood sanded to 180 grit to see how it performs - you may be able to avoid a conditioner or washcoat before staining.
Paul
F'burg, VA
Jack - sounds like you have a good plan based on experience. In place of the conditioner, I like to use a washcoat instead when I need to control stain penetration. A 1 or 2 pound cut of shellac applied to the bare wood then lightly sanded before staining. Just another option that works well with some stains.
Paul
F'burg, VA
Edited 12/12/2002 5:47:44 PM ET by Paul S
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