beginner staining question - what steps?
FN
desk. I'm comfortable building the desk, and I've done a lot of painting,
but I don't know much about stain. I want it to end up that reddish brown
dark cherry color that is fairly popular. And I want a surface that is
fairly tough because it will be a desktop for a built-in office desk. I
have a compressor and a paint/stain spray gun if needed. I also have a
couple dry sanders, if needed.
But could someone please just tell a novice like me what products to use and
what steps? I know it is subjective but I'm asking for people to say that
xyz brand is good for beginners and gives good results, etc. And I'd
really appreciate a very brief line by line step list like...
1) dry sand
2) stain with ___ brand stain [oil/water] based whatever, applying by ______
method (brush, spray, rub, whatever)
3) wet sand and repeat until you have 3 coats of stain
4) apply 2 coats ____ brand whatever polyurethane, wet sanding between
thanks!
JGS
You may want to kick around this site for a while. Cheers, JG
http://www.homesteadfinishing.com/
Eric Lund
"FN" <newsgroupYESDE...@DELETECAPSyahoo.com> wrote in message
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I suspect that a popular answer will be, "If you wanted a cherry look, why
not use cherry?" There are a couple of reasons this is a valid answer. You
can't really make birch look like cherry. Secondly, one thing I've noticed
in using Baltic Birch ply is that it is not exceptionally tough, and nothing
used to finish will change that (short of fiberglass and resin).
Stain and Poly is not necessarily the favorite finish around here. Poly
tends to give a plastic look and the purists here feel that the original
wood color makes it's own statement. Still, many use it, so here goes...
Sorry, can't do this without some commentary.
1. Sand to even surface, final sanding with grain.
Many go much higher, but if you are going to build a poly finish, 150
grit should be high enough. Make sure you fully remove sanding dust. You
"can" use a tack cloth with oil based finishes, but not with water base.
Tack cloths have either oil base or wax, so they do not mix well with water
based finishes. I use an air compressor to blow out the pores and and a
shop vac to get the dust that settles back to the surface.
2. Stain. Prelude Oil base Antique Cherry is probably what you are looking
for. Wipe on with cloth. Wipe off with clean cloth. Follow directions,
but the number of coats will be determined by how dark you want the finish.
The more coats, the more pigment will be applied. Stain is, after all, just
thin paint. No need to sand between coats of stain.
Use something from somewhere other than the big box hardware places,
since they only have Minwax. I get good results with some Minwax stains on
some woods, but horrible results with others. I don't know if you need a
preconditioner before staining birch ply.
3. Wait for stain to completely dry. (See can label)
4. Poly. Don't really have a Poly brand recommendation here, though I have
heard good things about Sam Maloof Poly/Oil wipe on finishes (Rockler). I
prefer McCloskey Heirloom Varnish. Use gloss to avoid muddying grain with
white powder used in satin finishes. Wet sand with 320 grit between coats.
Apply thin coats, and as many as necessary to get the depth of finish that
looks good to you. I recommend at least three coats.
5. If satin finish is desired, rub out with 0000 or 000 steel wool
(Basically, you just want to leave evenly spaced, very fine scratches in the
surface of the finish to dull glossy surface). Start with the finest grit,
if still too glossy, move to more agressive grit. Just be careful to not
cut all the way through the finish, or you get to go back to step 4, or
farther.
Gary Roth
choice, following the directions on the container and allow to dry
completly. Do not sand before applying finish. 3. Apply finish of your
choice, again following the directions on the container, sand lightly
between coats, use tack rag to remove dust from surface. Build up finish
coats to desired effect.
The hard part is choosing types of products and brand names, Theres an
awfull lot of products on the market and many more opinions on whats best
for any given application. All I can tell you is that I've gotten
consistently good results with Minwax oil base stains and either Minwax or
Varithane brand oil base finishes, on a wide varity of hardwoods, a couple
of notes if you go with an oil base stain, use an oil base finish, water and
oil still don't mix, the brighter or glossier the finish the harder it is,
as you step down in sheen the softer the finish is due to the additives used
to cut the sheen. For tables and desks I use gloss poly urithanes. Always
whenever using a new product or technique, experiment on scrap untill you
get the desired effect. I neither work for nor own stock in either brand
name I mentioned, but when I find a product and technique that does what I
expect it to, I usually stick with it. Good luck, Gary
"FN" <newsgroupYESDE...@DELETECAPSyahoo.com> wrote in message
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NOSPAMBOB
In article <3D75D300...@sympatico.ca>, JGS <JGS77...@sympatico.ca>
writes:
> You may want to kick around this site for a while. Cheers, JG
>
>http://www.homesteadfinishing.com/
>
Name works for E-mail
Paul R
finish, water and
oil still don't mix
If you use Hydrocote Resistane you can over coat the Minwax Oil stains
in a window of 2 to 8 hours. I don't know about any other "water based"
products.
Paul R