I have my best luck with pine if I seal it first with a thin de-waxed shellac. Zinsser's Seal Coat thinned 1:1 with denatured alcohol works well and dries very fast. As for the cherry, once you're sealed the choices are wide open. I have had good luck with gel stains if I am not sure of the color AND know I will go darker if required.
There should be a lot of good responses on this as finishing and what works seems to be as varied as the people doing it. I will suggest a tester board. This is a board of the SAME material sanded following the SAME regiment as your "real" piece. I use a strip about 3 or 4" wide by 3 or 4' long. I mark of sections about every 5" along the length with a permanent marker and apply different finishes on each panel. Be sure to write down (I write on the back of the board) what each sample is.
Examples might be:
- shellac, oil based dark cherry, lacquer
- BLO, pale cherry gel, poly
- shellac, trans tint medium cherry in DNA, shellac
etc.