# Small Project and a Question.



## Tom Smart (Jun 2, 2022)

I am working a gratis project for a local church. I don’t attend it but my wife and I were married there I won’t say how long ago (1975). The project is for an additional wall plaque for them to place small brass name plates on. The current plaques are old and made from cherry. The guy I get slabs from to make my charcuterie boards donated 2 cherry slabs. I really only needed a piece about 12” x 21”, but who passes up free 10’ 4/5 slabs? 





I know this cherry will darken with some age but what is your experience or thoughts on if the piece on the left will darken to a similar shade to that on the right? Or should I help it with some stain or colored tung oil or some other type finish?

I still need to get the correct beaded round over router bit to match the profile.

Reactions: Like 2


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## woodtickgreg (Jun 2, 2022)

The one on the right looks like walnut to me. And if it is the cherry will never darken to that color so a stain would be needed.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2


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## Tom Smart (Jun 2, 2022)

You may be right Greg. I was told cherry, but now that you point it out, walnut seems very possible. I have to say I’ve never seen that type of feather figure in cherry, only walnut.


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## Mike1950 (Jun 2, 2022)

We have a piece of furniture that is cherry and that dark 100 years. Put in sun for week

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## Tom Smart (Jun 2, 2022)

Mike, thanks, I will.

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## Tony (Jun 2, 2022)

I think Greg is right, that's walnut.

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


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## barry richardson (Jun 3, 2022)

Darn, now yer gonna have to get that guy to donate a slab of walnut  Cherry darkens dramatically over time, I have some vintage cherry in board form that is as dark as what you show, but the grain kinda disappears when it gets that dark, I agree with the others that the plack is walnut. I have used a couple of ways to age cherry quickly; a weak lye/water solution applied to the wood, or putting the piece in the sun for a couple of days, and applying a base coat of garnet shelac, I had good results with both methods...

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 2 | Funny 1 | Informative 1


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## Nature Man (Jun 3, 2022)

Seems like a Walnut stain should be the place to start in matching the original board. I’m not a router bit expert, but that profile looks like a fairly standard one. Your efforts are commendable! Chuck

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Great Post 1


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## Mike1950 (Jun 3, 2022)

barry richardson said:


> Darn, now yer gonna have to get that guy to donate a slab of walnut  Cherry darkens dramatically over time, I have some vintage cherry in board form that is as dark as what you show, but the grain kinda disappears when it gets that dark, I agree with the others that the plack is walnut. I have used a couple of ways to age cherry quickly; a weak lye/water solution applied to the wood, or putting the piece in the sun for a couple of days, and applying a base coat of garnet shelac, I had good results with both methods...


Our furniture piece has burl insets in drawers. Most would never know- grain does go away


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## Mike1950 (Jun 3, 2022)

But in reality the way to match the 2 is easy- Walnut stain...

Reactions: Agree 2


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## barry richardson (Jun 3, 2022)

Mike1950 said:


> But in reality the way to match the 2 is easy- Walnut stain...


Yea, walnut stain works great over cherry, I do it a lot for the shadow boxes I make, walnut tone is usually preferred by the customers, but I have a lot of cherry, kinda sucks to put stain over cherry IMO, but ya got to give the people what they want...

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## Tom Smart (Jun 3, 2022)

Thanks all, I found a piece of walnut that can work, but the decision is to stay with the cherry and darken it. I've gotta go get a beaded round over bit and a keyhole bit for the back. I'll look into the stain and shellac option Barry mentioned. I tried some walnut Danish Oil I have on the shelf, but it did not darken considerably.

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## barry richardson (Jun 3, 2022)

Tom, another I way forgot to mention is to fume the cherry with ammonia, the household stuff works fine. Put a little in the bottom of a 5 gal bucket, keep the piece out of the ammonia with a block and cover the bucket. go conservative though, (2 or 3 hours) and try a test piece, easy to over do it, as I discovered...

Reactions: Informative 3


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## Tom Smart (Jun 3, 2022)

Barry, thanks. I’m gonna let the sun do it’s thing first and see how much it darkens. Then go to alternative options. This one sounds cool.


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## trc65 (Jun 3, 2022)

Unless they really want the new plaque to closely match the color of the old walnut, my preference would be to stay away from the stain. Aged cherry and walnut next to each other provide a really nice color combination. I've used most of the methods mentioned above to hasten the darkening. Sun if you have it, garnet shellack for a little extra tone, and lye to really speed it up. Not tried the fuming with NH3, but certainly will in the future.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Tom Smart (Jun 3, 2022)

Tim, I don’t think these will be hanging next to each other so a perfect match won’t be required.

I finished the edge routing but not in time to catch today’s sun. Will get it out starting tomorrow. Been practicing with a keyhole router bit for the back to hang it. No router table so free handing. Couldn’t keep the router straight until I fashioned guides with wood scraps attached with double sided tape. I’ll futz with that more in the morning. Would hate to mess that final bit up and have it hang crooked.

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 1


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## Ray D (Jun 3, 2022)

Is making two out of cherry an option?


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## Mike1950 (Jun 3, 2022)

Linseed oil will darken also

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## Tom Smart (Jun 3, 2022)

Actually, they have more than 1 in walnut now. If I have time I’ll finish this cherry but then do one in walnut also. They’ll have a spare then.

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## Mike1950 (Jun 3, 2022)

Duplicate

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## Tom Smart (Jun 4, 2022)

Update…..

The cherry piece before placing in the sun.





After 1 full day in the sun.





I had time today to prepare one from walnut. Here are all 3. No finish on the 2 new ones.

The original has so much red in it I’m back in the “it’s cherry” camp. I’ve just never seen that type feather in cherry, which pushed me to the walnut side. but that doesn’t mean it does not exist.

Either way the church will have 2 new plaques, if I don’t screw up the key hole routing on the backside to hang them. Been practicing. Gonna need a jig. No way free hand will work and I don’t have a router table.

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## Mr. Peet (Jun 4, 2022)

Well Tom, you got me laughing. The one on the left looks like Butternut, Walnut in the middle and Black cherry on the right. As for the "key hole" on the back, use farmers math. Have a drill press? Take a scrap of the same thickness, use a small Forstner bit for the plunge hole that matches the original. Set your drill press depth gauge. Drill the two plunge holes. Set the router bit depth to match the original. Set the router in the hole and clamp a make shift fence (being squared stock, should be easier than otherwise). Clamp a perpendicular fence to act as your slot length stop.

Make sense?


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## Tom Smart (Jun 4, 2022)

It does, but since I’m not mass producing anything my jig is gonna be a few straight pieces of scrap and double sided tape.

As for the plaques, it’s outdoor/natural light. The left does appear light colored but it’s definitely walnut. Black cherry we agree. The original in the center??

By the way, what is funny?

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## Mike1950 (Jun 4, 2022)

Tom Smart said:


> It does, but since I’m not mass producing anything my jig is gonna be a few straight pieces of scrap and double sided tape.
> 
> As for the plaques, it’s outdoor/natural light. The left does appear light colored but it’s definitely walnut. Black cherry we agree. The original in the center??
> 
> By the way, what is funny?


Linseed oil will be your friend with both. Couple more days in sun.
I left a set of keys on cherry box I was doing. Just light coming through windows made huge difference after week. I had to sand again

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