Merit Cherry & Reds Six — Burn-In Stick Set
Ships from Waynesboro, Virginia.
Six full-size Merit burn-in sticks · six colors · the cherry and red-brown range
The Cherry & Reds Six is a set of six full-size Merit burn-in sticks for repairing chips and gouges in cherry, red mahogany and other warm red-brown finishes. It is the box to reach for on cherry dining tables, bedroom suites and the red-toned mahogany that fills so many American homes.
Cherry is a moving target — new wood pale and pinkish, a decade in the sun a deep brick red — and these six span that whole arc, from the light mahogany-cedar at one end through two cherries and a natural mahogany to burgundy and a true red mahogany at the other. Set them side by side on the bench and the steps between them are small enough that one of them lands. Original factory stock, hand-poured and stamp-embossed, every stick cast one at a time.
What's in the set
Listed light to dark:
- #4 — Light Mahogany-Cedar
- #15 — Cherry
- #18 — Natural Mahogany
- #77 — Burgundy
- #16 — Cherry Dark
- #37 — Red Mahogany
What a burn-in stick does
A burn-in stick fills chips, gouges, and worn edges with hard natural resin that takes a finish like the wood around it. Melt a little off the stick with a heated knife, flow it into the damage, level it, and finish over it — the same repair the trade has been doing this way for generations.
Why a range
A burn-in has to disappear into the finish around it, and color is what gives it away. The usual method is to pick the stick closest to the surrounding wood — often deliberately a shade lighter, since it is easier to bring color up over a level fill than to take it back out — then work the tone and grain on top once it sits flush.
Reds are unforgiving in a different way from dark woods: a fill that leans brown reads as a bruise, one that leans pink jumps out. Six close steps across the red-brown range mean the nearest stick is usually right there.
Expect a little surface character — pour marks, the odd bubble, an embossed number that stamped a hair off-center. They melt exactly the same.
See this set in the Merit color line →
Where the burn-in stick comes from: Penny a Stick: a brief history of burn-in sticks. More from the line: the Merit hub. Questions: orders@shellac.net.
