Anyone have a water base stain that makes natural cherry pop like a solvent finish? I have bedroom end tables and dresser that I plan on spraying 2k waterborne on cherry. I have done waterborne on cherry with Zinsser seal coat but never 2k. Chemcraft rep told me to use a water base stain. Anyone know of a stain out there that gets the look of a solvent finish on cherry?
Thanks,
Al

The requested answer as to wanting to find a water based "stain" that will give the " appearence" of a solvent based clear finish is a contradiction in and of itself.! Stains don't determine the color of the clear coat as to appearence. If you use an amber ish clear coat, it will have a final amber appearence if it's water clear, then it will have that appearence, etc.! Secondly, no matter what stain or sealers or top coats you choose to use, the cherry on it's own will naturally darken to a fairly large degree.! I think what the rep gold you was meant to steer you away from using oily or urethane type stains such as what you would buy at the big box stores.. Minwax, etc., which could possibly cause adhesion problems for the 2K.!!
If your looking for an amber type tone to your project, you would be best off by tinting your clear coat with a comparable color ant to your desired amount of amber news you desire.! Just a suggestion.

You could spray a light coat of the Zinsser seal coat over the stain to give it that solvent look and then the waterborne

Yes cherry darkens however it is a different look with a waterborne product. I asked rep specifically about Zinsser seal coat over cherry, nothing said about Minwax or box store stuff. The rep knows I won’t be staining. I have used seal coat for over 20 years but never under 2k waterborne. When I use seal coat I mix 2 parts seal coat, 1 part denatured alcohol.

Al, to each his own.! All I am saying is if u want the same amber affect, then tint your 2K, to approximate what your getting with seal coat, no..it still won't give u the same exact appearence, but it will be close... As to staining with water base dyes, there is the chance still, over time, that the color will fade, but that's your choice.

So far, I've not seen a water based stain that doesn't look like mud. Nature takes care of the most beautiful color on cherry. It would be a sacrilege to put muddy stain on cherry. If your customer insists on color, use a dye.

You can also take transtint dye and add to Sealcoat to making a grain popping dye stain. It's a similar effect to a high quality solvent wiping stain.

In my experience you don't want to change the color of cherry much. If anything you are trying to even out minor differences between each piece of wood. The ability to control the extent of color change using the transtint sealcoat should give you plenty of room to even it out without too much.

If you had only one stick of cherry, it would be stupid to stain it. The natural color is beautiful. Cherry is one of my favourite woods for look, feel, smell, workability. The pain of dealing with sapwood and potential for catastrophic sun damage are its only negative attributes.

Hello ! You can tint you WB 2K with some drops of CHROMAFLO TRANSPARENT YELLOW IRON OXIDE 897-1752

I think I was misunderstood or I explained incorrectly. The house the tops are going in have cherry cabinets, cherry trim, cherry interior doors, etc. I know the house well as I made all of the cherry items. They are a long time customer and how I finish the bedroom tops is my call. I finished the kitchen cabinets with cv, the interior doors, trim and other non kitchen items I did with Zinsser seal coat and then waterborne lacquer. No stain was used. When your in the house you really can’t tell the difference between the cv cabinets and the other items I did with seal coat and waterborne. I’m tired of being around cv, the off gassing is something I hate. Plus they have to breath this stuff in their bedroom for as long as it takes to fully cure. I feel like I want to give them something as good as or close to cv because they are table tops. Chemcraft makes a single component clear waterborne that is the best wb I have ever sprayed. I tried this over the seal coat today and I don’t see any compatibility issues so this is probably what I will go with.
What I was after when I posted was to eliminate the seal coat and stain the cherry to match the seal coat and then clear coat with the 2k. In my opinion some woods need the ambering while other woods could do without the amber.
I agree with you Adam cherry is my favorite wood to work with, not real dusty and has a great smell when you cut it and finishes nice.

I will check that out. You must have chimed in while I was typing. Thanks

I would still seal with the seal coat, just so you don't have any tonal differences. The 2k shouldn't work any different than the previous 1k waterbased that you sprayed.