LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Darken Cherry Cabinets

2K views 10 replies 10 participants last post by  8iowa 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Brown Wood Rectangle Wood stain Material property


I built new cherry doors and drawers for my bathroom vanity and finished them with BLO. After 2 months on the sun porch, they still aren't dark enough. I'm hoping for a brown like the cherry bowl on the right, which was finished with only mineral oil. I don't wan't to lose the pretty grain. My previous projects with shellac always end up alligatored. Any advice?
 

Attachments

See less See more
2
#8 ·
Is your cherry from the same type of Cherry tree? In Maryland we have "black cherry" growing all over. But when I go to Woodcraft and buy cherry, theirs is a much lighter color of cherry. When I tried to mix the two there was a very obvious difference in color that no amount of sun tanning will ever change.
 
#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
Jim's suggestion has value, several chemicals will darken cherry. The thing that concerns me is that you have applied BLO. BLO is a film finish; a very, very weak one…but still a film. Anything you do now is taking a gamble, while waiting may be painful it might be the best approach.
 
#11 ·
Those doors are absolutely beautiful! I would let patience dominate.

That being said, last year I made a large cherry cabinet for our downstairs "play room". It's a basement level room without any windows.

My wife wanted it darker, and since there is no natural light to energize the darkening process I stained the wood with Minwax cherry stain.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top