Varathane Black Cherry review

Black Cherry Varathane · Premium Fast Dry

Black Cherry on pine, oak, maple and cabinets

How a stain looks depends as much on the wood species as the can: pine and maple are prone to blotching, oak's open grain amplifies whatever penetrates it, and cabinet doors have their own even-coverage requirements. Photographed swatches for Black Cherry on each species are still being shot; the notes below are what to expect from this stain's formula.

Pine

Pine's grain runs soft and uneven in density, so Black Cherry (a thin, deep-penetrating oil stain) is prone to blotching here unless the wood gets a pre-stain conditioner first.

Oak

Oak's large, open pores soak up an oil stain like Black Cherry unevenly in a good way: it settles into the grain and makes the natural texture pop rather than looking flat.

Maple

Maple is dense and tight-grained with almost no texture to hide unevenness, so Black Cherry blotches badly here without a conditioner or a test board first. This is the wood oil stains struggle with most.

Cabinets / exterior

On cabinet doors, an oil stain like Black Cherry can lap-mark where one panel overlaps the next during application; wipe fast and work one door at a time to keep the color even.

Coats and drying

Coats: One coat is usual; a second deepens the color.
Application: Wipe off the excess quickly, fast-dry stains set in minutes.
Drying: Designed to be ready for another coat in about an hour.

General guidance only: the label on your can sets the real times. The color on this page is an on-screen approximation of the published swatch, and screens vary, so confirm on a test board of your own wood.

deep near-black red-brown.

A near-black red-brown for a deep cherry-furniture look with more darkness than Traditional Cherry.

Closest match in other brands

Ranked by Delta-E (perceptual color distance) between Black Cherry and every stain from other brands on this site: nearest first.

Dark Walnut Minwax · Wood Finish Chocolate Behr · Premium Semi-Transparent Brown Mahogany General Finishes · Gel Stain

Compare Black Cherry

Black Cherry vs Dark Walnut Minwax · Wood Finish