I bought some cherry pen blanks from ebay. They were a good deal, and I have been using them for pens. The problem is, it doesn't look like cherry. It's not red.
Web searching reveals that it is probably sapwood, and is only streaked with reddish brown. Some sources say that cherry gets redder and darker with age, but I don't want to wait years for this stuff to turn, if it ever does.
What I want is more like what you'd see on cherry furniture. A deeper, darker red. I'd really like to avoid staining it, but I may have to, to get the look I'm after. Other sources say to try using caustics to help redden it. Has anyone tried this? Results?