Cherry,Colour Fast

[Leatherbelly]

  Gents,
 Can a nice red colour be kept on a cherry stock or am I dreaming? I've been lead to believe that cherry always gets darker, especially in the sunlight. Would an alcohol based "red" stain change to a brown colour on this wood or is there a better way to keep the red colour on cherry?
 BTW, in the raw, this stock is very blonde.

[keweenaw]

You'll get a nice, persistent red color on cherry by treating the wood with lye or easy-off oven cleaner.  The color won't fade and if your wood is pretty blonde to start with you won't be alive when it darkens to brown.
Tom

[Leatherbelly]

  Thanks Tom for the reply. I think sodium hydroxide and Lye the same stuff? I'm no chemist but have access to industrial grade sodium Hydroxide that is used in the pulp and paper making process. Maybe too strong,not sure.Thanks again Tom.

[keweenaw]

Lye usually contains a lot of KOH but either will work.  Just make some dilutions and see what you like.  There was a long thread on this topic within the last week, including assorted pictures, that you should be able to find easily.

Tom

[David R. Pennington]

Go back about 3 pages and see the discussion we had a week or so ago. I had some of the same questions. I tried the lye and you can see the results.