I'm confused as to why certain woods are stained in certain traditional
ways. For example, I have some raw cherry that is very light. I feel
pretty confident that if varnished or oiled it would look completely
unlike the two "Cherry" finishes I commonly see -- a very dark brown or
a much lighter brown with red in it. Why would these be called "cherry
finish" when they look nothing like what cherry looks like when not
stained and just finished.

Because cherry has many different colors, ranging from light brown to
darker shades, reds, etc.. Tom

Thanks. So, if you were specing out something in cherry -- just asking
for "cherry" would be insufficient for you to know what color wood
(unstained and unfinished) you would wind up with?

Yes. Select your own wood, if possible. You'll be able to more closely
match the colors. Tom

See, that was my theory -- that somebody was trying to match the color
of a 100 or 150 year old piece of furniture that had darkened. That
would explain why the pieces of furniture that are "traditional styled"
have the dark, dark, type cherry-finish.

I love and hate cherry. If you've ever tried to put a dark stain on
cherry you know what I mean. It doesn't receive stain evenly. After
trying to get that aged dark look via lye, I gave up and went "natural"
with the kitchen cabinets. A few years later, I made a fireplace
mantel and went for that stained rich cherry finish using a gel-based
stain. I was aiming for perfection and the result was okay, but
this had to be one of the most aggravating finishing experiences I've
ever had.

Google for discussions on cherry and how it changes color as it ages.
Wonderful wood to works with but don't expect sapwood to change like
heartwood, DAMHIKT. Cherry is NOT to be stained according to many
posters!

On 1 Dec 2005 07:54:25 -0800, wrote:

I'm confused as to why certain woods are stained in certain traditional
ways. For example, I have some raw cherry that is very light. I feel
pretty confident that if varnished or oiled it would look completely
unlike the two "Cherry" finishes I commonly see -- a very dark brown or
a much lighter brown with red in it. Why would these be called "cherry
finish" when they look nothing like what cherry looks like when not
stained and just finished.

MrAnderson wrote:

I love and hate cherry. If you've ever tried to put a dark stain on
cherry you know what I mean. It doesn't receive stain evenly. After
trying to get that aged dark look via lye, I gave up and went "natural"
with the kitchen cabinets. A few years later, I made a fireplace
mantel and went for that stained rich cherry finish using a gel-based
stain. I was aiming for perfection and the result was okay, but
this had to be one of the most aggravating finishing experiences I've
ever had.

Any blotch prone wood is amenable to spraying your dye with an HVLP. No
blotching. Any depth of color you want.

Dave