Aging cherry

[kansas_volunteer]

For those working on cherry stocks these items might be helpful.

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=77833.0
https://www.woodcraft.com/blog_entries/adding-age-to-cherry

 

[Col. Batguano]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

 

[54ball]

Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Let's see if these came out....
Not the best photos and the gun was dirty, but this is my cherry rifle. It's unstained. A certain photo platform tried to ransom me for my good photos of this rifle.
That rifle was finished in shellac sealer followed by an oil finish.
What you posted about cherry is interesting but....
The main thing I love about cherry is not staining it. I know it can vary from piece to piece but man I love...just cherry.
For me personally, staining cherry is like painting chrome bumpers.

 

[reddogge]

Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Let's see if these came out....
Not the best photos and the gun was dirty, but this is my cherry rifle. It's unstained. A certain photo platform tried to ransom me for my good photos of this rifle.
That rifle was finished in shellac sealer followed by an oil finish.
What you posted about cherry is interesting but....
The main thing I love about cherry is not staining it. I know it can vary from piece to piece but man I love...just cherry.
For me personally, staining cherry is like painting chrome bumpers.

Now THAT is the color I like cherry to look like. I don't like pale.

 

[IanH]

Heavy-duty oven cleaner, yellow can, generic brand that states "Warning, contains sodium hydroxide" on the label somewhere. Whisker the stock as many times as necessary until the grain won't rise. Spray oven cleaner in a cup, dilute with distilled water 4:1 or so. Put on rubber gloves and wipe on stock with saturated rag. Let it chooch a few minutes but not dry. Saturate another rag in white vinegar and wipe the stock down in fast, even strokes. Wipe "dry" with dry rag. Let stock air dry, buff with coarse cloth or superfine grey Scotch-Brite if necessary, tack it off with 91% rubbing alcohol, and apply finish.

 

[Larks]

I’ve not tried it on cherry but for any timber that I want to accelerate the colour of age I use ammonia fumes - ie a bowl of ammonia inside an airtight container or bag with the timber. Ideally with all areas of the timber that will be visible completely uncovered open to the fumes, so not laying down.

 

[54ball]

IMG_0438 by Travis Brown, on Flickr
IMG_0443 by Travis Brown, on Flickr
I had to get some new pics of the rifle in the sun. Unstained, finished with shellac and oil.....

 

[winter1857]

IMG_0443 by Travis Brown, on Flickr
I had to get a new pic of the rifle in the sun. Unstained, finished with shellac and oil.....

That is fine, fine, fine. Mine spends all day on the porch on sunny days. No stain, just several VERY thin applications of Tried and True Original. It's not as dark as this yet but I'm in no hurry!

 

[ADK Bigfoot]

Put your cherry stock in the sun for a few weeks. Lots of direct sun. My kitchen cabinets have changed color (darker, richer) over the years. My kitchen has lots of windows and faces South.

ADK Bigfoot

 

[ord sgt]

My first build, about 40

years ago. Cherry stock, Minwax cherry stain. Why Minwax stain? No one told me that I could use other methods of finishing the stock. Minwax did bring out the grain of the cherry.[ATTACH

 

[TDM]

I'm not wholly satisfied with the finish I ended up with on my Cherry Woodsrunner using diluted cherry stain and T&T oil finish. Even though it's technically finished there's a couple of mods I plan to try. I've got a Cherry SMR build coming up and I'll be experimenting with other techniques including Burnt Umber oil paint.

 

[Norman Brooks]

Hand rubbed oil finish with bone black to bring out the grain.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

In the post by ‘Rob M.’ going on right now for a Carolina type G, this is how he ages his cherry.

 

[IanH]

Mixed aniline dyes and flat black spray paint work well for that.

Cherry darkens in days instead of years if you sun it before applying any sealer or finish.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

My Kibler with a light drain cleaner stain highlighted with some black dye. This was built a couple of years ago.

 

[IanH]

I'm not wholly satisfied with the finish I ended up with on my Cherry Woodsrunner using diluted cherry stain and T&T oil finish. Even though it's technically finished there's a couple of mods I plan to try. I've got a Cherry SMR build coming up and I'll be experimenting with other techniques including Burnt Umber oil paint.

I'm going to be doing my WR soon, will use caustic because it has wide growth rings and shows a lot of pale that won't sun-darken very much. I won't go as dark as my last stock (Texas wild black cherry, not fruitwood) because it turned out looking artificial it's so freakin' scarlet red. Will keep you posted.

Full evening sun: