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Actually, I have a question for any wood-o-philes in the house:

I'm restoring an antique cherry school desk and I want to keep the natural color of the wood.

What effect, if any, would MinWax Natural stain have on this type of wood?

I'd like to find a stain that would bring out the grain but not actually color the wood.

Thanks!

Any thing you do will alter the color/patina. If you are stripping it and refinishing then the antique value will be lost. Stains would need to be sealed after application. Shellac, poly, varnish, or laquer all of which will change the color and may not be compatible with what is currently on the desk.

Your best bet would be to get a high quality furniture wax and give it a good going over with that. The only other option that I would consider is a light coating of tung oil or a tung oil/varnish/thinner blend.

The person who owned it before me took a sander/grinder to the surface which did a little damage. Some work with 80 grit was able to smooth that down, but left me with bare wood, which is absolutely gorgeous.

The antique is going to be lost...I had to remove too much.

I was thinking a light stain with poly, but I want to preserve the look of the natural cherry while bringing out the grain.

I hate that stuff. I built custom furniture for 15 years before switching to IT and never used poly. I would go with one of two options.
1. Mix in equal amounts Tung oil, spar varnish and turpentine. Rub it on and let it sit for 1/2 hour then wipe off the excess. Do that every day for 5 days. It will leave a thin tough finish that will look natural. Any touch ups can be done with straight tung oil

2. For higher abuse I would do a laquer. If you don't have spray equipment get Deft laquer. It has a lot of leveling agents in it and you can get a very good finish with a brush and delicate sanding. Stain it first if you want or just put on the Deft and let it afe naturally. Put on two coats of Deft and then sand with 220 grit. Use a tack cloth to get all the dust off and then put on three more coats sanding with 320 in between. If you need/want a dead flat finish sand wet with a sanding block, just watch that you don't cut through to the stain.

This desk will be used by my son when he gets old enough, so I need something pretty durable. I also want to avoid as much yellowing on the finish.

BTW, thanks for the info.

It's a pain to touch up properly(in my opinion) and doesn't apply well. Poly once it sets up becomes a unified layer. Layers(touch ups) that are applied after it has fully cured will not bond properly. You will get halos around any touch up spots.

Laquer touch ups will seal with the older layers. Deft is a water white lacquer and I have never noticed any signicant yellowing.

Any thoughts enhancing the cherry grain with some sort of stain or penetrating oil before applying laquer

Their solar-lux line is very easy to use.

Nothing but salad bowl or Butcherblock finish is non-toxic. Their oil finishes and can be built up the same as any other oil finish.

kinda defeats the purpose

Even "clear" urathane makes wood a little darker. The same is true with many of the oils used to preserve wood. Also the differant varieties of varnish and shellac tend to have an amber tint when they dry.

In fact, I wonder if the desk in question has been stained already? I tend to believe it has been preserved with SOME type of staining solution, especially as there were less choices for finishing wood back in the day.

Having said all of the above, my top choices are boiled linseed oil, and minwax clear urethane. The oil tends to amber when dried, just be sure to remove all excess oil with a cloth after you brush it on, or it will dry sticky, and lumpy.
The clear urethane drys darker but with no noticable color. Never shake these finishes as that will add bubbles to the solution, instead gently stir them, you may need to do this a few times over the course of applying them as the heavier particles tend to sink. Another thing that adds bubbles is removing excess solution from the brush by wiping the loaded brush on the edge of the can lid, so be careful there. These bubbles can be sanded out, of course, but try to minimize this.

Maybe you can learn more here:

http://www.woodcraft.com/depts.aspx?pd=1042&deptid=1042

Good luck !

Thanks for the info!

Glad to help. I am strictly an amateur, unlike seemunkee. It keeps me out of trouble though !

Now, if I can figure out how to use this router, I may attempt some more challenging pieces !

relaxer. I'd like to get into it seriously.

BTW, I have a router I've used once. Damned thing scares the bejeezus out of me.

Try a 3HP router with a panel raising bit. Mount it in a table and use it as a shaper.

I have these visions of the piece of oak that i worked my ass off with, soaking up my blood, as I search in the sawdust on the floor for the rest of my thumb !!!! So far that has been avoided, if anything, it just makes me more cautious.

My dad and half my bros are expert carpenters/woodworkers, I am not.
I have been working on a 12 foot by 16 foot deck for what seems like years now (really, it has ONLY been months) What these guys do in a day takes me months, ofcourse i have a job with wierd hours, so it's been a few hours at a time, and no helper. Hanging 16 foot joists by myself was rough. I had to do a few of them twice ! So, it's almost finished !!!! And not looking too bad for an amateur !