(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best household stains

If you have some other colors and finishes in the nooks and crannies that can end up looking like a naturally agreed piece of furniture when you're done. I use a dye for color, and a gel stain wipe to do this on purpose and it makes the piece look 50+ years old instantly. Try applying your finish over a piece with molded edges like on one of the drawers or something and see how it looks. If you hate it you can always paint over it. Honestly tho that dresser is too beautiful for paint, I think it's going to turn out great with a stain or dye finish.

Edit: General Finishes Water Based Dye — it's very forgiving on application, and you can thin it with water to lighten it. I seal over this with shellac and then apply an oil based gel stain, slopped on heavy and wiped off gently for that "antiqued" look. I sealed with more shellac as I didn't use dewaxed so I couldn't use a wipe on poly.
here's a picture of my dresser, it's kinda hard to see but if you look along the trim you can see it's much darker in the crevices, that's the gel stain doing its thing.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for your help. I do not plan to stain it just a clear finis


Do you recommend using this before the epoxy as well? Also can you share a link to an epoxy that you're talking about?

That is in pretty good shape, I would not sand it plus it would not sand well anyway with all the natural oil in it.

I have a cumaru deck which has similar properties to your deck. I powerwash it every year and apply an oil based stain every other year. The brand I use is Penofinipe oil is a good brand of oil it use. I used penofin because it was available at my local lumber yard.

The key with stain is to apply it to 4-5 boards at a time, let it sit for 5 minutes, then wipe off the excess. Repeat for the next 5 boards. Avoid water based stains as they do not work well with natural hardwoods due to the oil content in the natural hardwood.

Before applying a new finish, it's always a good idea to sand through the old one. If you don't have the drive or tools to sand it yourself, you can search around for a milling company in your area. I payed a guy from one near me to send two butcher block slabs (also for a desk) through a four foot drum sander for me. Best decision I made during that project.

For the finish itself, this is a great one:
Minwax 244444444 Minwaxc Polycrylic Water Based Protective Finishes, 1/2 Pint, Semi-Gloss https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BZZ3RO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_A0y8BbJFAJJEC

Apply several coats and wait ~8 hours in between, wet sanding with 600 grit sandpaper in between. After four or five coats, you will have a super durable finish. Mine was completed four years ago, and I feel no need to redo it. The only dings on it are where I dropped heavy metal objects on it, but it is made with pine so it's much softer than yours will be.

Good luck man your desk is going to be dope

I recommend you use linseed oil, it looks great, and feels amazing. I also recommend that when you remove the finish you scrape it off with the back of another knife or similar tool (something with hard steel and 90* corners), and not sandpaper. On my previous Opinel I tried sandpaper, and it ruined the surface of the handle, and made the finish come out super ugly. Here's a pic of my currwnt olive wood Opinel with a linseed oil finish. There are tons of different linseed oils you can purchase on Amazon, but I'm not sure which one is the best. I personally used the generic brand I bought at home Depot.

Opinel: http://imgur.com/gallery/ZFUZTpN

Linseed oil: https://www.amazon.com/Furniture-Clinic-Linseed-Refined-furniture/dp/B00CDR5EIQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538325182&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=linseed+oil&dpPl=1&dpID=31DIOEdXfRL&ref=plSrch

no idea about that. i've had mine for about a year and a half, and they're still like new. hopefully there's someone on here that's had it a while longer. i would have preferred to swap the cabinets out, but they're solid oak/plywood framed and in excellent condition, just the absolute wrong color (bright orange hued red oak). i think my last house, the cabinets were around $8k. this gel finish cost me about $500, but probably 100+ hours.

my deciding factor (other than my opinion that almost all painted cabinets look cheap) was i had an extra cabinet that i had removed, and i did half each method. sanding sucked, and i knew i didn't want to do that with that many cabinets (too much fine detail). also, i wanted to keep the wood grain, which painting would not preserve. if your cabinet is flat or has minimal detail where you can just run a power sander over the whole face, it may be a viable option. once i decided on gel, i tried a few different colors to see how they would look, how many coats i would need, etc. i ended up going with dark gray x3 coats, and clear x3 coats, with a very light sanding sponge in between each coat. stain was about a week to dry each coat. clear was a few hours.

stain

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KML6BCC/

clear

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DT4QJS/

Why 15 layers? Just to get more build or more color? If more color use stronger dye solution? I sprayed this tabletop with a single coat of transtint to get this color then topcoated it with a single coat of shellac to seal the dye then arm-r-seal. That seems pretty intense red and I only used about 1/4 bottle of transtint to make a pint or so of dye solution (and had extra left over after doing ~40 sq ft of area. BTW the color is Transtint Red Mahogany.

Thanks, used miniwax wood finish (gunstock) for the general stain and Dr.PH. Martin's ink while sanding, cleaning and drying well a few times over then a few layers of high gloss tung oil. These are just the brands I had on hand and generally like the products.

If you do get a spill - check out [wine-out] (https://www.amazon.com/Gonzo-Wine-Out-Stain-Remover/dp/B00NXNRXS8)


Worked in fine dining and we had to wear long sleeved white shirts with our suits and backservers with their vests. Occasionally wine would spill on someone. The office always had some wine-out on there and it was like a miracle worker - though I don't know if it is good for all fabrics

From creeping on his(?) posts, looks like he did about 8 coats of "Kona" stain, then 1-2 coats of black on top of that, then cleared it, thennnnn scuffed it up with steel wool. Best Boyd's stock I've seen yet.

Edit: My local Home Depot doesn't carry it. http://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-260154-Ultimate-Stain-Quart/dp/B00714LKAC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414001601&sr=8-1&keywords=kona+wood+stain

Old growth cedar is very resistant to rot.

Newer cedar may or may not be as resistant.

I hedge with on my natural cedar deck/fences with http://www.amazon.com/Vahalla-Wood-Preservatives-1-Gallon-Treatment/dp/B008Y0N6U4

This is not a stain in the classical sense, it's all natural mixture you spray on with a garden sprayer that soaks in and supposedly (apparently) protects the wood from rot. So far, nothing I've used that on has had any sort of rotting, despite being otherwise untreated and in very wet conditions (including bare soil contact).

• Rubber Feet 1 1/8".
  
• Cable Tray x2.
  
• None of the steel is painted currently.
  
• Stain - Provincial 211 used 2-3 coats then applied some Wipe-On Poly to protect it. I actually built the top and did the stain 2 years ago and this is how it looks today... it has held up really well.
  
• This desk is only 60" long (5'). Mostly because it was more cost effective for me to purchase 2"x6"x10' boards and have them cut in half in store.

So recently I purchased two of these counter tops to create a desktop with.

They are unfinished and from what I've read birch seems a bit tricky to finish.

After some research I'm thinking about this stain and this top coat, will these be okay?

Thanks!

Get one of these. https://www.amazon.com/Minwax-63485-Finish-Interior-American/dp/B0000DI7ZI/ref=pd_sim_60_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JJ09Q93RW681ZDPP4K1N

Try Early American first. The wood looks like a mahogany veneer, stained with a light walnut stain, but only the darker of the 2 colors pictured would do well with a walnut stain marker, which would be too dark for the lighter color. Try the Early American first, imho. You can do more than 1 coat.

1-http://www.woodnshop.com/wood_images/MAHOGANY.jpg


2-http://www.rinoswoodworking.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Regent-Mahogany-Veneer.jpg




And after you’re satisfied with your sanding and staining results, spray it with this, https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-7701830-Stops-12-Ounce-Crystal/dp/B0010NY95S/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1474135429&sr=8-5&keywords=rust+oleum+clear+gloss+spray and don’t spray for more than 2 seconds, because this shit comes out heavy. Wait for it to dry and do it again. 1-2 seconds only, from 12 inches. If you raise up the wood with heat, be very careful not to sand through the veneer. Once your repair is done, stop staring at it.

This is what I use. Although I don't order it over Amazon, I just pick it up at my local hardware store. I tried it because of a youtube video of a modeler who compared it to Army Painter's Quickshade and said it was basically the same product. He was using a darker stain that he thinned with mineral spirits, but I went with a lighter stain (because that was all my local store had) and I've been very happy with the result.

After much searching, I found that ZAR makes an oil-based exterior polyurethane. What sold me on it is that it says

• Flexible - Resists temperature extremes and hard weather
  
• Superior ultraviolet protection
  
  It says that it cannot be painted on top of solvent-based paint which is not a problem. I'm still going to test it on an edge.
  

Ebony wood stain marker from almost any paint store, hardware shop, or Lowes. Full black out and bleeds into every crack and grain as much as you want it too.

~$6USD for a good one

Minwax 634900000 Wood Finish Stain Marker, Ebony https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001VRQV5O/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_GVnuDbQ4HM4Z0


Hides nosedive and scraping blemishes easily as well.

Yeah I like it, it even flips a bit out in the sun. I used Behlen Solar-Lux dye based stain in "Medium Red Mahogany". Fade and UV resistant. Non-grain raising. Penetrates well and is very translucent. I find that most hardware store stains cover up the wood a lot more than this stuff.

> linseedis is this one good?
https://www.amazon.com/Furniture-Clinic-Linseed-Refined-furniture/dp/B00CDR5EIQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1542425616&sr=8-3&keywords=linseed+oil