Any suggestions on staining Birch plywood to resemble Cherry?

Question

I'd like to use Birch plywood since it's about half the price of Cherry. I got a sheet of Birch that had grain that looked almost exactly like Cherry, but when I stained it, the sheet didn't accept the stain evenly at all. Portions of the sheet looked OK and others looked like Ash or something; very light. Is there a way to prep the wood maybe to get it to stain evenly (kind of darker; as with cherry)??? Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Cherry appearance stain is available in dirrerent shades and suppliers.  But if you are looking for cherry wood grain appearance, you must have cherry wood.

Answer 2

sure, do it all the time. try Pre-Stain Conditioner from Minwax, or others. evens out the absorption of the stain.

and\or put an extra coat of stain on the light areas, and blend

them in.

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

I'd suggest going to http://www.woodmagazine.com , then to the forums, and the finishing forum. This question has been asked over there several times, and the moderator, Steve Mickley, posts a link to his online article on the process (he started with poplar). It's not a particularly fast process, as it involves several steps, but the end result as shown on his sample pieces is impressive. IIRC, it involves using shellac as a base coat to change the background color and seal the wood, then using stain on top of that (where you don't get the light/dark problem), then finishing it off with varnish.

Answer 4

Like any type of wood you are going to have light and dark though out the wood. Even real cherry wood has the same thing. You can sand down the sheet I take it your talking about Birch plywood. Put two coats of stain that you want on it. Using a test piece of wood to get what you want.