Choosing finish for Cherry woodwork?

Ben,
You'll probably get as many different answers to this as the number of responses, so here's my take:
Cherry is In my opinion beautiful all by itself, and it gets better with age. I've used cherry on several projects, the first of which I applied TransTint Cherry dye. This darkened the table immediately, simulating an antique appearance, which I locked in with Arn-R-Seal satin wiping varnish. Sorry, no photos of this.
The next two projects simply had the Arm-R-Seal, which is easy to apply, and to fix if a mistake happens. One of these can be viewed at: http://lumberjocks.com/projects/82590
I like this natural finish, and it's been getting darker as it sits in the sunlight of the room.
Long story short, I recommend either the Arm-R-Seal, or Minwax's Antique Oil Finish - which I've also used to my satisfaction.

Ben - I've used Arm-R-Seal for my boxes, some with cherry & happy with the results. Just fiiniishing some more that have cherry & will be posting as project in next few days.

Cherry is fantastic. Don't use any color stain and finish it naturally. Above methods are good, I have also use min wax natural stain (no color) on cherry.

I used waterlox on cherry for years on vert surfaces with no issues. I spray just don't go to heavy. I've since switched to waterbase as the dry time between coats is just too much and the VOC's really bad. Now I use general finishes high performance. If oil is a must for you then Arm-r-seal. Nothing imparts the amber hue of waterlox on cherry though (IMO). I now use high performance exclusively unless the client demands an oil finish. It's so much nicer to clean up as well. I also love being able to put 3 coats on in an afternoon.

thanks guys.
do you think one could notice the difference between minwax antique oil and arm-r-seal satin?
the minwax is available locally and i told the customer i'd make up some samples.
don't want to order the arm-r-seal unless it's a different look.

I had a piece of cherry that I had put gloss poly, like 4 coats on and then had a friend of mine who professionally polishes cars to come over and shine it up with his car polishing equipment. very nice and so smooth and shiny.

I can't compare minwax antique oil and arm-r-seal, but I definitely prefer arm-r-seal to standard minwax wipe-on poly. Love Arm-r-seal on cherry, but the color definitely darkens over time-so it is not ideal if someone wants it to look on day 1 like it will on day 365.