Oil Finish for Cherry

[wallgunner]

Hey guys,
I'm finishing up a cherry stocked fowler for my father, and didn't want to do the lye treatment for the red color cherry will eventually get. What do you guys use to finish a cherry stock, so that it can age on it's own? Thanks for all your help,
Wallgunner

 

[bigbuckdn]

I did a chery stock on my old savage 99 lever action and it came out real nice with just oil and it darkened as it aged

 

[paulvallandigham]

Cherry is dark enough that it really doesn't need a stain. I would just use a good oil finish, like Tru-oil, and rub in the coats. In time, the finish will darken as its exposed to sunlight, unless its always coated with wax. Over many years, grim, and dirt will get into any oil finish and darken it, but a Cherry wood stock will still look like what it is 100 years from now. There are good cleaners, that can be used to clean dirty finishes. With an oil finish, denature alcohol will clean the oil. Then, all you need to do is rub in another coat or two of Tru-oil, and the finish looks like new.

Oil finishes also let scratches, and minor Dinks be repaired, without having to strip the entire stock down and refinish . Just rub oil into the scratch or dink, and feather it[ stretch the oil as far as it will move onto the surrounding wood] into the surrounding finish. It may take a couple of coats to fill the scratch , or dink, but they "disappear" as if by magic. Dents may have to be steamed out of the wood, and then the area re-finished, but working with oil finishes is a true joy, compared to varnishes, lacquers, and polyurethane products.

If you want to see what your Cherry stock will look like after rubbing in an oil finish, just use a wash cloth to wet the stock, and look at it wet in good light. I have worked on ONE piece of cherry wood stock, and I made the mistake of buying a Cherry stain for it, before I learned my mistake. I tried staining it, and ended up sanding off all the stain. The Stain did not add anything to the wood at all, IMHO.

:thumbsup:

 

[Swampman]

It will remain blonde forever without an aquafortis or Analine dye stain. I'd use Laurel Mountain Forge products from TOW.

 

[ebiggs1]

I am with Paul on this one. Use one of the oils available Tru-Oil, Danish Oil, Tung Oil, Walnut Oil, etc, your choice. Oils rule!

 

[bioprof]

I was amazed to read an article about finishing cherry furniture that described in great length how to seal cherry wood to avoid getting lighter and darker areas of finished wood. I was surprised because it seems to me that gunbuilders do just the opposite. Many like to use wood that has lots of figure so and use an oil finish to highlight the lighter and darker areas. Why the difference?

 

[paulvallandigham]

Back in the early 19th century, and earlier, people liked dark furniture. Most furniture was covered with varnishes, not oil finishes.

Cherry wood was considered the " poor man's Mahogany" when it came to furniture, as Mahogany had to be imported from the Philippines. It shares a reddish hue, or color with Cherry Wood, but has no real grain to it, separating winter and summer growth wood. Its grown in the tropics were there are no such "seasons" to create "grain". Furniture makers darkened the Cherry wood to HIDE the differential "grain" to make furniture look more like Mahogany, for sale, to get a higher price.

For contract gun makers, Cherry wood was used when Walnut was in short supply. They darkened the wood to conceal the grain. The ordinance departments accepted the Cherry stocks as they had about the same hardness and strength as American Black Walnut does, and proved to be quite serviceable.

I hope this helps. :thumbsup:

 

[ebiggs1]

I build kitchen cabinets and Mission Style furniture and the techniques for making gunstocks and furniture is different. Gun stock makers usually try to get the best possible piece of wood where in a set of kitchen cabinets that would be cost prohibitive for more than just the face frame. The folks I work for are not usually interested in seeing just how much I can spend on wood.
Plus people don’t want oil finishes on cabinets. If and when I get sapwood in a species like cherry I use a wiping stain to blend the color. Sometimes dye. Popular, birch and maple are known for this problem, too. I have been using stain to slightly redden my walnut gunstocks and I like the results very much.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! Ya like it or ya don’t.

 

[ebiggs1]

Anything containing linseed oil, which old time varnishes do and some new varnishes also, grows darker with age. It becomes somewhat darker immediately upon application, but keeps darkening for some time. That is one reason antique furniture is so dark.

 

[ohio ramrod]

As a builder of custom furniture I use pure tung oil mixed with mineral oil (50/50 ) first two coats, and then just the pure tung oil for the second two. After the oil has dried I then rub the wood down with a pure carnuba wax.

 

[billd]

I finished a cherry fowler about two months ago. I used one coat of Kettenberg's oil thinned with mineral spirits and then several coats of tung oil (the real stuff). It's been hanging on a sunny wall for about two months and has darkened considerably.

Take a piece of the scrap and finish it as you finish the gun. Put the finished scrap it a cabinet or someplace dark. Compare it to the gun every couple of weeks. You will be suprised how fast cherry will begin to get that mellow dark red color.

Important !!!!! Rotate the gun end for end every week or so when it's hanging on the wall or you will have a two colored gun. Been there, done that. :surrender:

 

[wallgunner]

Thanks for the help guys. I figured one of the better oils that gunsmiths tend to use would be the best choice. The gun is being made to look new, not aged. I believe age should come with use, so a simple oil finish would be very appropriate. Thanks again,
Wallgunner

 

[Stophel]

Here's a 180 year old cherry stocked rifle.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v326/Fatdutchman/Original Flintlocks/Massachusetts

The grain seems to have been filled with shellac. It is NOT oil finished. There are a few spots on the stock that have been scuffed off, and oil from handling has turned it darker and purplish.

 

[wallgunner]

Stophel,
I've never actually used shellac on a stock. What would you recommend. An oil finish would be easily obtained at my local hardware store. Where could I get the supplies for a shellac, and what is the procedure for it? I'm not quite finished yet, so I have a little time, just thinking ahead. Thanks for the tips. A new finish to try is something I'm interested in, variety is the spice of life.
Wallgunner

 

[Stophel]

Shellac can be had from a variety of woodworking sources. The last I got came from Wood Finishing Enterprises www.woodfinishingenterprises.com
I like button lac myself. It dissolves very nicely for me. I usually put a bit of mastic in with it, which theoretically makes it more elastic.

I only use the lac for filling the grain, which is pretty easy. Pour a quantity of ground up button lac or shellac flakes into a jar and pour in some denatured alcohol (or PGA). Swirl it around every once in a while and in a few days, it's ready to use. I don't try to filter it out because it isn't really necessary unless you are doing a top coat finish.

Slop the shellac on the stock heavily, trying to keep it wet for a while so it will soak in as deeply as possible (it won't soak in all that deeply no matter what you do). Wipe off the excess from the surface of the stock, using an alcohol-wet rag as necessary. Let it sit and dry for a good while, and repeat. When you think it's nearly filled, put on another coat, but leave it standing on the surface. Don't leave much standing, just a thin coat. Let it get good and dry, and then scrub the shellac off the surface with a rag DAMPENED with alcohol. This takes a lot of elbow grease. You don't want to soak the rag (or the stock) with alcohol, 'cause that would remove more than you want to. You don't want any shellac left on the surface of the wood at all. Zero. You may want to do this again if it looks like the grain is not yet filled.

When satisfied, then the surface is prepared for an oil varnish top coat.

This is vastly quicker than doing an oil finish, building up coat after coat in the grain and putting it out to dry. It seems to have been a VERY common method of finishing gunstocks.

An added bonus is that the shellac won't turn the end grain dark and muddy like oil can, leaving the grain clear and bright and purty like it should be.


For an oil finish, I would NOT recommend ordinary "boiled" linseed oil that you get at the hardware store. Barring boiling your own oil to make THICK "black oil", I would recommend using something like Tried and True varnish oil (available at www.woodcraft.com ). This is "stand oil" (as I understand it) which has been "prepolymerized" in glass covered copper trays in the sun, then with some rosin added. I think there is not enough rosin in it to really make a good varnish (it's still too soft), but would do well for an oil finish. It does work, it does dry, but it has to be put on THIN, and it takes time, and large amounts of sunlight to really dry, just as with any linseed oil.

You can also try your local Wal Mart and go to the craft section and buy a little glass bottle of Daler-Rowney purified Linseed oil (they carry oil for making paints, but no pigments...go figure). It is almost clear and super nice quality. It dries quite fast, considering that it is not boiled, nor has any drying agents added. I have finished a stock with Tried and True, but not with the Daler-Rowney oil. I have messed around with it quite a bit, though. :wink:

 

[ohio ramrod]

You can mix up a "friction polish" with bullseye shellac and carnuba wax. Or you can buy it ready mixed. I believe the ready mixed is called "shellawax" . Another brand is Hut Crystal Coat. Available from Hut products at www.hutproducts.com I have used all three and find no difference except cost. Since I do a lot of lathe turnings I mix my own to save on the cost. But one 6 oz. bottle will do a gun stock and have enough left over to touch up for as many years as you are likely to need it.The last bottle of commerical I bought was in 2007 and it is still in good condition to use.