Finish type for bed frame?

[Bibliophile 13]

If you want the cherry to darken more quickly, just set it out in direct sunlight for a day or two. It will darken pretty quickly.

I, too, have a cherry bed frame. I used a Danish-oil-type finish on it, and yeah, it turned out super-blotchy. I wish I had gone with a film finish of some kind. Live and learn, I guess. Your plan sounds good.

[John Mihich]

Wipe on poly.  You can get a great finish with it.  You can make your own but you need to be careful on how much thinner you use.  I use Min-wax wipe on with great success.  It's a hard finish and easy to apply.

[Troywoodyard]

Getting cold feet here guys... I bought arm r seal and compared it on a test piece side by side with the tried and true traditional with beeswax. They both look great, but the tried and true is a nice silky texture and a very goldish color. The arm r seal pops the grain more, but is a bit shinier which I don't love and it imparts a bit of a brown color to my eye. I'm strongly considering the tried and true. Talk me out of it?

[jteneyck]

If you like the Tried and True, use it. FYI, you can make any finish have that silky feel and give it a satin sheen if you buff it with 0000 steel wool or a 3M equivalent synthetic pad and paste wax. For higher sheens follow up with auto polishing compound.

John

[Troywoodyard]

First coat of tried and true... there is some splotching it looks like, but I'm so "over" this project and there isn't anything else to be done. Perhaps I should have gone with the poly, but I do like it... someone said they liked pictures so here you go! This is the largest project I have done so far and I'm overall pretty pleased with it.

[Steve Friedman]

Looks great.  Nice work.

I have never used the one with beeswax, but I have used Tried and True Original a lot.  I may be one of the few people who actually likes it.  If you follow the instructions and make sure the coats are incredibly thin, I think it's easy and person-proof.  I like person-proof.  The feel of T&T is really nice.  I agree you can get the same feel with ARS, but it's a bed frame so an oil finish should be fine.  I'm pretty sure you can't put anything over the beeswax T&T without removing the wax first.
  
I'm guessing you used the gloss ARS, which I also think is too shiny.

Steve

[Woodworm!]

First coat of tried and true... there is some splotching it looks like, but I'm so "over" this project and there isn't anything else to be done.  Perhaps I should have gone with the poly, but I do like it... someone said they liked pictures so here you go!  This is the largest project I have done so far and I'm overall pretty pleased with it.

Tried and True is a nice choice. I have used it before with good results.

[KC]

People like what they like, but IMO far too much time is spent trying to defeat the 'blotchies' in cherry.  It's part of the character of the wood.  An extreme example, but to me it would be like trying to hide the 'ribbon' in a beautiful piece of mahogany.  Nice looking bed.  

[lambangdaihoc]

I use Sealcoat sometimes as the final finish on some stuff.  Not very protective, but looks nice and super easy.

Also, I use the amber version, which adds a little bit of color.

[KC]

I've always been a fan of a natural cherry finish, splotches and all.  And I don't have any problem at all with sapwood.  Watco Danish oil with a lacquer topcoat.  I finished up a bed in June of '15, but my search here only goes back to July of '15.