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Staining Poplar With Cherry Stain---UPDATE


willland

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Another thing to consider is ordering actual cherry 1*6 or 1*3 or what ever size lumber you need directly from the mill. You can ship ups as long as the board is under 8 feet long. I'm pretty lucky as there is a mill only a few miles away. I'm able to go pick out my lumber in every type of wood imaginable and they will also make up my edge glued panels and plane them for me for cheap. They also import exotic woods. You might give them a call and see if they will ship you a few boards. Here is the link to their retail website http://www.wiblesupickhardwoods.com/products/moulding-products/s4s-s2s/ The boards are s2s and s4s which are a little thicker then 3/4 as that's whats used in cabinetry but they plane them to 3/4 for free.

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I'm gettin' to be an old guy and stick pretty much with what I know, but my preference is 1. light sanding, 2. conditioner, 3. stain (oil based if possible), 4.light sanding perhaps and tack cloth and, finally, 5. poly or tung oil finish. FWIW, one of the nicest jobs I did was a nice medium oak stain on a crappy pine fireplace mantel with a tung oil finish. Many moons ago. Minwax is great but they've jumped on the "all in one boat" and I just can't go there if I have a choice! Might give it a shot some day. Best of luck. Chuck

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  • 2 weeks later...

If I can't get the poplar to look "right", I will just order an 8' slice of the cherry board in the above link.

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Bill

Folks, thanks for all the advice. I just ordered the American cherry board from the above link and will use the same Minwax Wipe-ON Poly Clear Gloss that I used with my Revel B15 cherry veneer.

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The birch boards that are part of the stands now will be painted black with the natural cherry boards forming the front facade like in below photo.

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Edited by willland
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  • 4 weeks later...

Update.

They turned out much better with the poplar as the substrate/side panels and the natural cherry board as the front facade.

Five coats of Minwax Wipe-On Poly Clear Gloss for the cherry and two coats of Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Cover Paint+Primer Semi-Gloss Black for the poplar boards.

Thanks for all you guys who chimed in to offer advice.

Bill

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Edited by willland
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Nice job Bill, there's always a lot more to the finishing process then one thinks.

Thanks, and tell me about it. I put five coats on my sample piece and still was not satisfied with the sheen. Then I remembered from my Revel B15 re-veneer what brought out the shine that I was not getting with this project. I forgot to use 0000 steel wool after final application and then buffing all surfaces with crumbled masking paper. What a difference. Finished with a little lemon Pledge and it created an almost mirror shine. Very pleased with the results.

I may set the cherry boards outside in the UV rays to get a little suntan before I glue them in place.

Bill

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That's what makes some of those older cherry furniture pieces so beautiful, years of exposure and many rubbings of furniture oil over the years. I found a quick start for darkening cherry many years ago. It involved filling a bucket/jar half full of fireplace ashes, then filling the jar to the top with water. The ashes settled and the jar sat undisturbed for 3-4 months. At that time you could carefully ladle off the water from the top without disturbing the sediment in the bottom. When you applied the mixture like stain to the cherry it would turn several shades darker. It would of course raise the grain, but after a light sanding it still maintain some of the darker color. I have experimented with a number of "cherry" stains, oil, water and alcohol based and not found one that can produce what mother nature does with time. I'm glad to see results and hear from other woodworkers lots of knowledge to be shared. I haven't tried this in years, guess I should gather some ashes and get the brew going.

Tom

Edited by tk49
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Woods such as Birch , Poplar , Maple and Pine can be a handfull without some past experiance !

I've been finishing cabinets for more years then alot of forum member have been alive , so for " Professional " results Alcohol spray stains are the choice of the pro's .

Results can be had by other methods with trile and error , but spray staining is the choice for softer wood .

Like spraying a candy apple custom automotive finish , Alcohol spray stain acts the same ... each coat keeps getting darker with less and less of the substrait visible through the coating .

A sample board of the same material should be used to first determin the amount of coats needed to match the desired depth of colour .

After the spray stain stage , a Laquer of 35% sheen will provide your UV protection and allow protection from cleaning solutions .

Naturally , a spray booth is going to give the best results unless you like the look of dirt in your finish .

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The contrast between the black and the cherry looks good, with time the cherry will age and develop it's own patina. Nice job, now sit back and enjoy the music.

Yeah, I was going to let the cherry face of the stands age rapidly(suntan) but decided I liked the different shades of cherry(75's and stands) and the way they contrast with the black semi-gloss sides.

Thanks for the kind words from you all.

Bill

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