advice sought for cherry paneling from my tree

[sleepy hollow]

I finally felled a large (24" diameter) cherry tree trunk that has been standing dead for several years. I plan to have the carcass milled into 4/4 planks and would like to use them to panel a small wet bar I am remodeling. The wet bar is approx 40" wide and 24" deep. Currently it is drywalled over 24" OC studs. I should not have to use any butt joints as the planks should span the full 40" or 24" on all three sides, and ceiling.

My questions are:

1. How thin should I dress the final planks? I was thinking ½ inch would be the max thickness. Worried about flatness over time in particular. Could I go thinner?

2. How should I plan to install them? Butted together on long sides and fastened with finish nails to studs over existing drywall? Or mill for tongue in groove? Or do something else?

3. I want to finish with dark stain. Any thoughts on best finish strategy?

4. I plan to have one plank milled to 8/4 and use that for the countertop (plus build sink base cabinet frame/doors/drawer fronts with the 4/4 pieces).

Again, thoughts on finishes would be most welcome. I plan to finish everything in advance of installation, unless you all waive me off of this.

Thanks in advance for any advice on any aspect of my project. I am more than open to your collective wisdom.

[Dave Diaman]

Have you thought about just making large raised panels (basically big cabinet doors) to cover the area. This would address any issues with wood movement due to the floating panels and it will look a lot nicer I think. You can cover up any seams with molding and maybe build up some columns at the ends.

[Robert Adams]

I'd do a tongue and groove or similar joint. As for thickness I'd make that decision when I saw the wood and how it reacts when milled.

As to finish personally if you want the dark cherry look just clear it and wait 50 years or more or use a different wood and stain it to look like aged cherry.
Cherry is hard to stain as it gradually darkens over time. If you start out dark... I have don the thinned blo sun and clear and that gets it started and brings out some of the grain and darkens a little.
I Dunnow maybe someone has a way to darken it reliably without hard to get caustic chemicals but I haven't seen it yet.

[Scoony]

Are you aiming for a fancy paneled look or just a plain wooden wall look?

I would go with Dave’s recommendation for a nice paneled look. I would probably use the lumber from the tree to make the frame pieces and ¼ cherry ply for the panels. I would use a rabbet instead of a groove so the frame pieces hold the ply up against the wall.

To darken cherry, I would use a water based dye and not worry about blotch control, but there are a few simple techniques for blotch control. There are also some safe chemicals to darken cherry, one being Washing Soda, but it tends to bring out more of the browns. Dave once recommended a product that brings out the reds in cherry, but I have forgotten what is was.

[Phil S.]

Maybe beaded shiplap, something like this-



with small gaps (<1/16" depending on the width of each board) between the individual boards to allow movement.

[sleepy hollow]

Thanks, all. Great thoughts and suggestions. So a couple follow-up q's:

1. I am fine with letting the wood naturally darken, but the wet bar area does not get any direct sunlight to speak of. I thought cherry needed a natural light source to effect the darkening of the grain? Maybe I don't get it.

2. I like the idea about the raised panels. Maybe I can design something there that works. That is getting more formal, but could be very attractive. I failed to mention that I intend to include shallow shelves (~3" deep x ~10" high) like the ones that are there now, and are used to hold spirits and glassware). So, I am thinking I need to find a way to size the panels so that the rails/stiles are set where the shelves would be. The raise panels would define the areas behind/between the shelf spaces. Does this make sense?

Thanks again, you all have given me lots to think about. I like the beaded paneling idea as well.

As for using anther specie, I am determined to use the cherry from our property thought, except for drawer parts. Call me sentimental, but there you have it.

[Dave Diaman]

There is a product called wood ager made by wood finishers depot that will age the cherry a little darker for you. You can control how dark by making changing the water to ager ratio. Here is a piece with a 50/50 mix of ager and water.

[JR1]

Some comments:
I have seen cherry which has been darkened by exposure to direct sun or to UV (tanning bed). Either needs to be done beforre the finish is applied. You can make it darker but not lighter without sanding down and starting over. Do the entire project at one time and watch the time. It is safer to obtain the degree of color desired by usine Transtint in shellac I like straight Thai seed for cherry, but it is easy to change with transstint in shellac .

I've had poor luck wwith stains on bars unless they are topcoated and in that case shellac with or with out transtint is far easier to apply. One or two 1# cut coats will usually do the job and if too light another coat possibly with transtint will darken and removing a little shellac will lighten the dolor. Then I'd apply either Crystalac Poly-Ox or GF EnduroVar for protection. Make sure to have plenty of scrap to test on, particularly if you do UV darkening.

[Scoony]

With the planned shelves, I would probably go with the ship lapped beadboard. If the lumber is milled to 4/4 - 5/4, you could mill and resaw to 3/8" - 1/2" which would be thick enough for a wal covering.

Another variation would be to suround sections of the bearboards with frameing, so that instead of solid panels in frames, you would have sections of bead board in the frames.