can i please see your cherry stocks finished with oven cleaner,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[olskool]

a friend and forum member here and i were talking about cherry wood. i told him i saw a few that had been colored or finished with oven cleaner and how nice they looked. can i see some photos of your cherry wood that have been done in the oven cleaner, or anything else to see how it compares,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Redmoon]

Interesting...
I'm working on a cherry full stock in 32 right now so im very curious about this now.

 

[olskool]

yea i have saw a few done with easy off, they come out fantastic. i have no idea why none is posted here yet the lye in the cleaner makes the wood dark and rich colored. i know i saw a SMR on the Kibler site done that way, and one on the ALF,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[PathfinderNC]

How do you get the stock inside the oven??

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Not really sure I'd want to put caustic soda, aka lye, aka sodium hydroxide, on a stock in the concentration one has in oven cleaner....,

LD

 

[Dutch7]

How do you get the stock inside the oven??

must me a half stock!
Medium rare please

 

[excess650]

Add 1 tablespoon of lye to 1 pint of water. It will give off vapor, so do this in a well ventilated area and don't breathe it. Likewise, use chemical resistant, or at least nitrile gloves to keep it off the skin. Swab or brush the mixture onto the cherry, and it will react with the tannic acid in the wood. Keep applying until you get the desired color, but it will be lighter when dry. Rinse with water if you're satisfied, or just leave it dry.

Lye is base, so neutralized with an acid like vinegar. You don't need to neutralize the lye on the stock, rinsing with water at most, but the vinegar might be handy if you get splashed.

Unlike stain, this method adds no pigment to muddy the grain. Finish with tung oil, BLO, or whatever varnish you like.

 

[oldwood]

No thanks

 

[ppb]

This one was finished with alcohol based leather dye and tung oil.

 

[rich pierce]

Excess650 nailed it. I used dilute lye. Some oven cleaners have no lye anymore and are useless for staining cherry.

 

[pwbsmokey]

Add 1 tablespoon of lye to 1 pint of water. It will give off vapor, so do this in a well ventilated area and don't breathe it. Likewise, use chemical resistant, or at least nitrile gloves to keep it off the skin. Swab or brush the mixture onto the cherry, and it will react with the tannic acid in the wood. Keep applying until you get the desired color, but it will be lighter when dry. Rinse with water if you're satisfied, or just leave it dry.

Lye is base, so neutralized with an acid like vinegar. You don't need to neutralize the lye on the stock, rinsing with water at most, but the vinegar might be handy if you get splashed.

Unlike stain, this method adds no pigment to muddy the grain. Finish with tung oil, BLO, or whatever varnish you like.

Does the lye just speed up the darkening process that cherry naturally does, or does it also make it darker than than just UV exposure will do?

 

[oldwood]

No disrespect sir , I don't understand the logic of using chemical processes on wood where the end result cannot be predicted. Looking at hundreds of old examples of cherry wood furniture , I've never seen any that was blackened. To each his own...........oldwood

 

[olskool]

Excess650 nailed it. I used dilute lye. Some oven cleaners have no lye anymore and are useless for staining cherry.

this one was done with lye then. so that is my point, lye dose work. i have saw them done and they look fantastic like the one in your photo. thanks for a picture,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Add 1 tablespoon of lye to 1 pint of water. It will give off vapor, so do this in a well ventilated area and don't breathe it. Likewise, use chemical resistant, or at least nitrile gloves to keep it off the skin. Swab or brush the mixture onto the cherry, and it will react with the tannic acid in the wood. Keep applying until you get the desired color, but it will be lighter when dry. Rinse with water if you're satisfied, or just leave it dry.

Lye is base, so neutralized with an acid like vinegar. You don't need to neutralize the lye on the stock, rinsing with water at most, but the vinegar might be handy if you get splashed.

Unlike stain, this method adds no pigment to muddy the grain. Finish with tung oil, BLO, or whatever varnish you like.

AH...,
So you use a lye solution, and not a can of Easy Off. OK that makes more sense. They used nitric acid to react with minerals in maple so why not another chemical to react with minerals in cherrywood?

I wonder...,

The lye in the 18th century would've been potassium hydroxide from wood ashes, not sodium hydroxide. Does potassium hydroxide give a different result? It does when you make soap with it.

LD

 

[dave_person]

Hi Olskool,
Lye mixed in water will redden and darken cherry as well as when used to neutralize aqua fortis on maple, will redden the color as well. However, you can get the reddish brown cherry you are looking for in other ways. The cherry stocked NE fowler below was first stained with dilute black aniline dye in water as part of the whiskering process. The black is scraped and sanded off as part of that process but black dye remains in the grain highlighting it. Next a mix of scarlet and brown aniline dyes dissolved in water to get the color I wanted. The last 3 photos show the original gun I copied and you can see how closely I got the color.

Here is another cherry stocked gun finished the same way.

Finally, another cherry stocked gun stained with aniline dyes to look like aged apple wood.

dave

 

[MedicMike3762]

I was curious about the oven cleaner as well, so I tried it out on my first build and couldn’t have been happier. I did sample on some scrap pieces first! Also you have to get the heavy duty oven cleaner to get the lye. I know lye in water will accomplish the same desired effects but around here pure lye is difficult to come by, oven cleaner is not. Below are some photos of my finished rifle it is a cherry kibler colonial. I did two applications of OC to get this color and they were very quick 3 mins per application and then it is washed away. I just used water and have had no ill effects on wood or finish over the top. Once I had the color I wanted I used several coats of hand rubbing tung oil then a paste was finish on top. Overall I’m really happy with how it turned out and would do it again. However my next built is going to be walnut!

 

[MedicMike3762]

I also used some kibler bone black sparingly..

 

[Pete G]

Drain cleaner mixed with water also works on cherry.

 

[Roundball2319]

Hi Olskool,
Lye mixed in water will redden and darken cherry as well as when used to neutralize aqua fortis on maple, will redden the color as well. However, you can get the reddish brown cherry you are looking for in other ways. The cherry stocked NE fowler below was first stained with dilute black aniline dye in water as part of the whiskering process. The black is scraped and sanded off as part of that process but black dye remains in the grain highlighting it. Next a mix of scarlet and brown aniline dyes dissolved in water to get the color I wanted. The last 3 photos show the original gun I copied and you can see how closely I got the color.

Here is another cherry stocked gun finished the same way.

Finally, another cherry stocked gun stained with aniline dyes to look like aged apple wood.

dave

Can we see a full length shot and get details of the last rifle. It looks like an middle eastern influence.

 

[olskool]

so the ones rolling their eyes at my question now know i wasn't dreaming or being a dummy, LOL,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,