For Those Interested in the Natural Darkening of Cherry

[Benignant]

Here is a 6" long splinter forend I made for an unmentionable rifle alongside the other half of the same piece of cherry that it was cut from.

The forend was sealed with 3 coats of Tru-Oil and set in the South Alabama sun to darken naturally for two weeks. The other half was kept inside in my cutoff box.















If, of course, you are willing to concede that blasting a piece of cherry wood with 280 to 400 nanometer ultraviolet electromatic radiation from an ongoing thermonuclear explosion 93 million miles away is "natural."



.

[snapper]

Looks like osage.

Fleener

[45-110]

Why wait weeks to darken cherry? Dollar bill store, cheap spray oven off cleaner which is mostly lye will provide a dark rich color in minutes.  Neutralize with baking soda.

[Benignant]

And for those not interested in the natural darkening of cherry:

Why wait weeks to darken cherry? Dollar bill store, cheap spray oven off cleaner which is mostly lye will provide a dark rich color in minutes.  Neutralize with baking soda.

.

[Wood Hick]

Did some experimenting with oven cleaner on some figured cherry . Turned out too blotchy so I went the natural route.

[alacran]

I have seen 200-year-old cherry furniture. That patina will not come out of a can of oven cleaner.

[45-110]

I would not worry about a 200 yr patina look on a modern gun!  The lye works very well on Michigan black cherry. I have done 3 stocks and with no regrets. Also all the "oven off" products are NOT the same.
The technique came up on this forum a fews yrs. ago.

[bluenoser]

Have tried oven cleaner on test pieces and it came out blotchy.  On the other hand, lye crystals dissolved in water turned out great.

[Ron Scott]

A UV flourescent light will do an excellent job of moving the yellow tone of cherry to a natural red with two or three days exposure. An additional advantage over  oven cleaner, is there is no grain raising to contend with. We used this process on a cherry wood cradle made for my Granddaughter.

[Dan Herda]

Fuming with ammonia over night is another way.


Same pc of wood turned the same day, darker pc fumed 24hrs.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

I found that Sodium Hydroxide from The Science Company works much more predictably on the cherry than oven cleaner. Also, sealing with a 1lb cut of garnet shellac adds a warm reddish tint. Scrape it back to bare wood and then oil varnish finish.

[Bob Gerard]

I”ll go the oven cleaner route next time I want to harken some cherry that’s coated with baked-on grease 😁

[john bohan]

I had some cherry,left some out in the sun,sprayed it with oven cleaner, nothing seemed to change this wood color so I stocked the gun with maple.

[Eric Krewson]

I snagged this picture somewhere, I think it was off Jim's customer gallery of pictures.

This is an over cleaner stained cherry stock if I remember right.

[Copper Dave]

If you use “Easy Off” oven cleaner, it has to be the heavy duty version. The heavy duty has the lye in it to cause the color change. Regular strength doesn’t have the lye as an ingredient.

[Levy]

I have a question concerning what 45-110 said in an earlier post.  The caustic soda/lye/NaOH/sodium hydroxide is a strong base.  Baking Soda is also a base, but a bit weaker.  I don't think you can neutralize a base with another base.  It would take some form of acid.  James Levy

[45-110]

Levy I have done 2 flint pistol stocks from cherry and one range box with a cherry lid. As I recall I used baking soda....but also may have used ammonia on one to neutralize. The color is exceptionally rich on the range box lid. I used the Dollar bill store cheap plain oven cleaner.  I can't seem to upload a picture today.
kw