I started preparing a Quote for a client who would love to have a prie Dieu (prayer kneeler) made of cherry. As I did the paperwork, I pulled up the following photo from some tests I did in July 2008, exposing cherry to sunlight, and let it get a suntan. I also made a short video of the work I did; you will find it at this link. Cherry develops its initial patina in only about two weeks:

Suntan progress on cherry, 1 day to 11 days.

I made those tests as I prepared to apply the finish to Sierra’s little stool, almost two years ago. To show my prospective client how gorgeous cherry is, and what a nice varnish does to the wood, I snapped the following photos a few hours ago – please note that it is very important to look at finished wood in different light, as the values might change depending on the light itself.

In this first photo I placed the stool in our kitchen, in the shade, but facing the huge, double sliding doors, so that mostly daylight shone on it:

The cherry stool in the shade.

Then I moved the stool to an area by the sliding doors, directly in the sun:

The cherry stool in the sun.

The gorgeous patina on cherry just gets better and better with age. And the beauty of the grain in the wood is visible; the Waterlox varnish I prefer to use on cherry does not obscure the grain at all.

— Al Navas

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