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I am building the modular wine server featured a few years back, and looking for suggestions on suitable finish. I know I should try different finish schedules on scrap, but I don't want to purchase a bunch of different products (BLO, varnish, Danish oil, etc.) just to try them on a 2" square test piece. Whatever I don't use will probably go bad before I decide to use them on a different project. So, what would you guys use? The wood is pretty much like the magazine called for; cherry veneer plywood and cherry hardwood lumber. All suggestions will be appreciated.
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You're going to get lots of opinions, but let me make a couple of suggestions.
First off---if you're using cherry plywood and solid wood---you need to make sample pieces of BOTH as I've found (too late in many cases) that plywood may not look at all like solid after you apply a finish. In general, the ply will absorb more finish so if you have any idea of tinting or dying the piece, you'll need to test both and likely sand the ply a grit or two finer than the solid wood to reduce absorption.
Since stain is very tricky on cherry, if you want a color change, I'd do it with shellac in one of the popular shellac tints.
Or, let mother nature color your wood by simply leaving the finished project out in the sun a couple days and then just finish with poly' or shellac.
Dave
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Here's one I just finished last week. A bookcase made of cherry hardwood and cherry ply. It's finished with what is pretty much my standard finish for cherry: a coat of dewaxed garnet shellac followed by the appropriate top coat....on this one that was General Finishes Enduro Var. The shellac gives the cherry a good look as well as slightly blending the various shades together, the Enduro Var has a tint to mimic an oil based varnish (my normal top coat). This was my first time using Endruo Var and I was really impressed with how easy it is to spray. The 1# shellac was also sprayed. My experience with cherry has always been that no matter how hard you try to match the raw wood color, over time (a short time) it will shift and be different. So I've given up on matching the color and figure nature will do whatever it will do. In the pic you can see some of the differences not only between the hardwoods, but also the hardwood versus plywood. I just finished this last week. 
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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I often use a process pretty similar to Fred, except I use Transtint dye instead of garnet shellac. Here's a photo of a wall unit system I've been working on for some time, in phases. It's mostly cherry veneer plywood with hardwood edges and moldings.  You can't see any real difference between the plywood and hardwood. The bulk of it was sprayed with a Transtint brown mahogany dye in water then 3 coats of EnduroVar (which, by the way, doesn't spray as easily for me as it does for Fred apparently). The darker cabinet and shelves was done by spraying 3 coats of the same dye mix before topcoating with EnduroVar. Everyone knows that cherry is a bear to stain w/o blotching, and will often do it when flooding on dye, too, at least for me. So I don't do it. Spraying on dye, or shellac like Fred does, allows you to get the color you want and eliminates blotching. The resultant color also is perfectly transparent, none of that masked look you see with heavily stained store bought stuff. John
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To avoid fiddling about with dye etc. I suggest that you try either garnet or ruby shellac and as a wine server is subject to alcohol spills topcoat with something more resistant; topcoat with EnduroVar or Crystalac PolyOx. If you prefer the color of Fred's cabinet use the garnet. If you want more red then use the ruby—if it's not dark or red enough you can always add Transtint #6003 or #6010 would be good candidates. The advantage of using shellac is that it is easy to get the color you want with it. More coats of 1# cut will be darker removing some will make it lighter. If you use transtint in shellac the same applies and you don't need to worry about blotching. Shellac is very easy to spray although it can be applied by wiping but not a foam brush (the glue holding the brush together fails). For cherry spraying is easier. Assuming HVLP both Poly Ox and Endurovar spray easily, Endurovar is a little fussy though.
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jteneyck said:
The bulk of it was sprayed with a Transtint brown mahogany dye in water then 3 coats of EnduroVar (which, by the way, doesn't spray as easily for me as it does for Fred apparently).
John
It may be that I'm naive...or just not as experienced with waterborne finishes as you are. One thing about it, Enduro Var is a bit more expensive than some of the alternative products. I was just wanting to try it out.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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fredhargis said:
[blockquote]jteneyck said:
The bulk of it was sprayed with a Transtint brown mahogany dye in water then 3 coats of EnduroVar (which, by the way, doesn't spray as easily for me as it does for Fred apparently).
John
It may be that I'm naive...or just not as experienced with waterborne finishes as you are. One thing about it, Enduro Var is a bit more expensive than some of the alternative products. I was just wanting to try it out.
[/blockquote] More likely you are better at spraying than me, Fred. But if you want to try something that even I can spray great, and it looks great, too, and is cheaper than EnduroVar, try GF's Enduro Clear Poly. It's harder than EnduroVar, nearly as chemically resistant, water clear, and sprays like a dream. John
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JR1 said:
Shellac is very easy to spray although it can be applied by wiping or a foam brush.
JR1, I've seen you post several times that shellac can be applied with a foam brush, but I've never found a foam brush yet that can stand up to alcohol. They go limp in a couple of minutes. Where do you buy those foam brushes? John
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Go to star lumber and get some pratt and lambert 38. a good soy based old style varnish. Star is the only place in Wichita I know to get p&l 38. Try that first on your scrap. It beats the heck out of any wb general finishes. If you need a color or grain pop use BLO. It is inexpensive and can even be bought at Walmart. Now the bad about blo is you have to let it dry around 3 days. Shellac can be fine to use for color or even on some things as final finish. It is however harder and more expensive to use. The pratt and lambert 38 is light an thin enough to most times apply as a wipe on from the can. It does brush on nicely with a good natural bristle brush. I have never found a foam brush that will apply shellac good enough. Try the p&l 38, I prefer the satin sheen, then I do mainly antiques. the p&l 38 will give a slight amber tone not near anything like what an oil based poly will. You may find the the p&l 38 all you need for color and finish. If not the blo is an inexpensive way to add a slight bit of color and an enhance the grain. Don't under estimate what a few hours in the sun can do for cherry especially with the nice sunny cool days we are having now, just don't forget you set the piece outside.
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Thanks to all for the suggestions. Restorer, I wasn't aware that Star carried p&l 38. I've previously checked with Lowes and HD, but no luck. Mostly used Minwax in the past, but been wanting to try some other things. I think I will go with your suggestion. I have read in the past that not all BLO is the same, some have mis-labeling problems. Any thoughts on that?
Tom.
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