Suitable finish to Cherry ornamant plinth

[John15]

Hi,

I am making a 9" x 7" x 1 1/4" ornament plinth from cherry. My only experience of finishing is with varnish and paint. Can anyone give me some advice on waxes and oils that would be suitable. The ornament is a dark brown head of an Irish Setter.

Many thanks,

John

 

[Chris Knight]

Cherry darkens quite quickly by itself on exposure to the light. You don't say if you want a particular colour or shade to match or contrast with the ornament, so it's hard to recommend anything in that area. For providing a suitable surface finish, shellac would be fine, an ornament plinth isn't something that is likely to received hard wear.

You can buy shellac made up or mix your own. If you are likely to do any other finishing, it is such a useful finish to have, I would recommend you make your own from de-waxed flakes.

 

[John15]

Many thanks Chris for this info, very much appreciated. The current colour of the cherry wood is a pale pinkish brown. I think it needs darkening to a more brownish colour.
Best regards,
John

 

[Chris Knight]

John,
As long as it's not sapwood (rather whitish and doesn't normally darken much on exposure to light) try one or all of of the following
- Leave a sample of planed wood in the sun (assuming we get some!) outside with half the sample covered to prevent exposure.

- Use vandyke crystals to make up a water based brown stain and apply with a brush/rag (this can be made up in strengths from light to dark and also repeated applications make a workpiece darker). This a an easily controllable process for achieving the depth of colour you need. You can also use a commercial walnut stain but this version will likely preserve the figure of the wood better as its more translucent.

- Wipe a sample with Sodium Hydroxide solution (take care with this and use rubber gloves , it can burn you!). If you can't immediately find this stuff, it's usually around in the form of drain cleaner in hardware shops, or you can get it from almost any specialist wood finishing supplier. This can give dramatic coloration and you'll need to experiment a bit to get a shade you want..

Chris

 

[John15]

Many thanks once again Chris. I'm doing this for my wife - the ornament is a casting of one of her winning dogs back in the 90's so it's rather special.

John