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I'm making a Hope Chest made of cherry which has beautiful grain and I want to find a clear finish which will pop the grain and then let the natural cherry patina develop over time. I tested Arm-R-Seal and it did so so in popping the grain.
Yesterday, while removing blue tape residue with mineral spirits, the grain not only popped but there was a reddish patina. Holy stuff! Just what I was looking for.
So now I'm wondering if a "mix" of mineral spirits and BLO would provide also pop the grain and provide a deeper color after the mineral spirits evaporate. Anyone ever tired that approach? If so, is a 25% BLO -75% MS
about right? Don't want to wait weeks for the BLO to dry up.
If MS/BLO is not a good idea, then I can give the Chest a sun bath for 3-4 days to jump start natural coloring.
Thoughts/ comments
Dave
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The oil varnish mix in the GF product, or Formby's or any of a dozen others, will work and DRY sooner than just BLO on its own. You can add more Japan driers to the BLO if you wish. You get a smidgeon of protection from just BLO but to really build a finish it would be a coat a day for a week, a coat a week for a month, a coat a month for a year and then once a year. Oil varnish is easier...
The suntan effect will work before or after the application of oil varnish.
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things. -- G. Carlin
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My last two chests were made from cherry. They got a quick wipe on/wipe off of BLO followed by several applications of wiped on garnet shellac. To help control blotching I applied a spit coat of shellac before the BLO and then sanded that back.
If you can get Arm-R-Seal where you are, I'd probably use that.
I went with shellac as the top coat for the ease of repair of the inevitable finish dings the chests will get.
Thanks, Curt
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"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."
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I'm surprised Arm-R-Seal didn't give you the results you wanted. I've always had good luck with it on cherry. But OK, let's move on. I would not use BLO because of cherry's tendency to blotch. It can do it with ARS, too, but BLO was much worse in my testing. Looking at your photo I'd be worried about some areas blotching.
Have you tried shellac, either blonde or amber? They will both pop the grain and look great on cherry. Make up a test panel with one or two coats, and then try ARS over the top for your finish coats.
If you want it to really sing and you can spray, spray it with a light concentration of Trantint Brown Mahogany dye first, followed by a spray coat of Sealcoat shellac, and then ARS.
John
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Thanks John. I didn't realize that BLO, even in very thin mix, might/would cause blotching which cherry is very proned to due. I'll test with the Brown Mahogany dye followed by seal coat of shellac. ARS will be the top coat.
Spraying - oh dear! I have put off attempting to spray for years. I bought an EarlyX-3000, eons ago, which is still in the box. What the hey. Gotta start sometime.
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Here's a photo of some testing I did.
ARS alone on the left, BLO then ARS on the right. All the specimens were resawn from the same board
The reason you have to spray the dye on is it will blotch if you try wiping or flooding it on. I know people say it won't but my experience has not been good. But if you spray it with only enough to wet the surface it can't blotch because there is no extra to migrate to the blotch prone areas like there is when apply an excess.
Spraying it on is not hard. Practice on some scrap. You'll be fins.
John
