dark area on cherry stock

[Buff1958]

first time trying to finish a cherry stock.
I sanded it to 320, wet it and sanded again.
sprayed it down with lye oven cleaner and it furred it up pretty bad.
I rubbed it back slick with 3-M pad and applied the first coat of sealer.
Wet it looked great, a nice dark red.

I just went back out to check it after a couple of hours and 90% of the stock looks ok but not very red.
The area on top of the wrist and on the flat under the but area turned almost black.

Can I sand these 2 areas to lighten them?

Thanks for the help

 

[rich pierce]

first time trying to finish a cherry stock.
I sanded it to 320, wet it and sanded again.
sprayed it down with lye oven cleaner and it furred it up pretty bad.
I rubbed it back slick with 3-M pad and applied the first coat of sealer.
Wet it looked great, a nice dark red.

I just went back out to check it after a couple of hours and 90% of the stock looks ok but not very red.
The area on top of the wrist and on the flat under the but area turned almost black.

Can I sand these 2 areas to lighten them?

Thanks for the help

It’s hard to get uniform color because end grain being exposed sucks up more stain. That’s often the case at the wrist and toe where the slope of the stock exposes some end grain. Some like the variability and others like it less. A good buffing with 4-O steel wool in areas you think are too dark may help. But it’s easy to botch up and end up with a funky look. Of course one can re-stain and give it another go if needed.

Oh one more thing. I always apply heat after applying lye and letting it dry. If it went red by itself I guess you don’t need to.

 

[Buff1958]

i did heat it….. just forgot to say

 

[rusticbob]

I just finished a Woodsrunner in cherry. Kibler sent me a couple of cherry blocks to practice on and I tried the oven cleaner method on one, and left the other one in the sun a couple of days. I personally thought the lye method was way too dark. I have been putting the finished gun in the direct sunlight whenever possible. It’s darkening up nice and slow.
I left it plain and unadorned, all my guns are hunting guns, and if they are too “pretty”, I am hesitant to take it out in bad weather.

 

[Buff1958]

3-M pad didnt really help so I hit it with some 320 sand paper and it blended right out