Cherry Humidor Advice

[th3woodsman]

I’m making this humidor for a family member and I really want the grain to pop AND keep the natural color of the cherry. I was thinking about doing a couple of clear coats of satin polyurethane to seal the wood then some finishing wax over that. Any thoughts on the best way to finish cherry wood?





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[leehljp]

I know the beauty of natural cherry and my dad had a fair amount of it. He left me a few hundred board feet and I still have most of it. I have made a couple of tables, some shelves and other things. BUT there is no way not to keep cherry from turning darker (that I know) short of putting into a freezer and never letting it see the light of day. In my experience, which involves the use of 3 or 4 coats of polyurethane (oil base) I was never able to keep natural cherry from darkening. LIGHT is what does it, and light penetrates any clear finish you apply. It will change in 1 to 2 years. This is a characteristic of Cherry, and some others too.

I will add in something that I hear and read on occasion - that you do not want to hear/read: Some people stain cherry upon finishing an item so that it will match older cherry pieces in a room. This is done because "new" finished cherry does not match older cherry for up to 2 to 5 years. That is what the professionals do, so keeping it the same color is not a probable reality. Sorry. If someone else knows of a miracle finish for cherry to keep it light, I would love to hear it.

[atgcpaul]

What's that dark border on the lid? Is that just a shadow making it look darker than the surrounding wood or did you prefinish it?

Something you might have read with oil based finishes and cherry is that the oil can cause a blotchy appearance as softer areas of wood absorb more oil than harder areas. To prevent this (some people like it), you can do a wash coat of shellac (thiinned down shellac) underneath the oil. The shellac helps even out the absorption of the oil and gives a more uniform appearance. I don't do too many cherry pieces, but I do a shellac coat first. The shellac alone will help to pop the grain and subsequent coats of poly will aid in protection.

[capncarl]

I think that the front panel of your humidor, the dirty looking spots, will blotch. Like Atcgpaul suggested using shellac will help alleviate some of the splotching. I’ve used Bullseye clear shellac thinned 1 part shellac with 3 parts alcohol on some of my Tiny Tables. Wipe it on with a soft rag and immediately wipe it off with a dry rag. To me Minwax Red Oak stain seems to bring out the grain and character of the wood. Everyone seems to like the tables better cherry stain on cherry wood. One thing that I have found with my dealing with cherry is that the finer I’ve sanded it the less problems I have with splotches. I generally sand the table tops to 1000 grit and apply red oak stain without the shellac wash,

photo of cherry stained wth red oak

[Tom Slick]

I really like laquer on cherry.

[dangre]

I always "pre-age" cherry by wiping on a coat of BLO, Boiled Linseed Oil. It darkens just a little to maybe two years old, looks even, and seems to help against splotching if staining afterward. As usual, try on a test piece first to see if that's what you like.

[th3woodsman]

What's that dark border on the lid? Is that just a shadow making it look darker than the surrounding wood or did you prefinish it?

Something you might have read with oil based finishes and cherry is that the oil can cause a blotchy appearance as softer areas of wood absorb more oil than harder areas. To prevent this (some people like it), you can do a wash coat of shellac (thiinned down shellac) underneath the oil. The shellac helps even out the absorption of the oil and gives a more uniform appearance. I don't do too many cherry pieces, but I do a shellac coat first. The shellac alone will help to pop the grain and subsequent coats of poly will aid in protection.

The darker wood on the lid is actually a padauk inlay I used to add a little pop of color for it.


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[th3woodsman]

First coat of finish, decided to go with just a satin oil based poly. Definitely not regretting it.





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