Replies

1. 
   woodsmanplus | Jan 11, 2006 10:26am | #1

   Hi this is my opinion and I don't mean to sound disrespectfull,but you are not going to get a stain that will make this wood look like the same type of wood in color.I just built a very large toy box for my granddaughter using the exact wood you mentioned.All i did to the box was put a waterbased sanding sealer on it,then a good coat of wax and it came out beautifull.What you might want to give some thought on is find out what shade or tint she likes then mix a little with the sealer and finish off as I did and you could possably come up with a very nice piece.If you do decide to try this, get you a fairly large piece of the plywood and popular wood,put them togeter then try a little exprimenting.Either that or find out what wood she likes best and start over.Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

   Ken

    

2. 
   DougF | Jan 11, 2006 05:49pm | #2

   Take scrap from each type and seal them with a wash coat of 1 lb. cut and a second application of 2lb. cut of shellac, lightly sand to smooth and then experiment with different gel stains.  Birch ply and poplar are very porous and achieving uniformity of the gel stain will require that the wood are well sealed.  Birch is also noted for "splotchiness" and a seal coat is almost always necessary if a pigmented finish is desired. 

   Check out some of Jeff Hewitt's articles on the Homestead Finishing web site.   He also has several good books on the subject.

   Good luck - Doug

3. 
   ring | Jan 11, 2006 06:59pm | #3

   How about a compromise?  Finish the birch natural and paint all the rest a solid color.

   DR

4. 
   Pondfish | Jan 11, 2006 07:04pm | #4

   I would avoid stains and use either dyes, tinted topcoats or a combination of both.  If you don't have a lot of eperience with finishing, you might try the Minwax "polyshades" line, where you are applying a tinted polyurethane (be sure to mix well before applying).  They come in gloss and satin blends.

   A tinted topcoat leads to a more uniform color over both woods, and is easier to control than a stain (which will tend to accent grain, versus coloring evenly all over). 

   Another easy route is to use a colored shellac (e.g., amber or garnet).  You can control the color applied by how many coats of shellac are used (be sure to keep the coats very thin).  You can buff the shellac to a satin, semi-gloss or gloss coat after it has been applied.

   Recommending the use of "Hide Signatures" option under "My Preferences" since 2005
1. 
   SteveSchoene | Jan 11, 2006 08:22pm | #5

   Tinted topcoats can certainly obscure the wood underneath.  Thats one reason why they are so often used commercially.  But I believe that applying them with a brush makes it very difficult to achieve even coloring.  Polyshades in particular is routinely the subject of complaints on this and other forums (fora).  If you can spray use of a toner is a very good idea. 

   Without spraying, I would begin with a dye to establish the overall color.  If your test on sample boards reveal this to be too "blotchy" then you may need to partially seal with a wash coat of 1 lb. cut dewaxed shellac.  Water borne dye should blotch less than oil based stain, but still can blotch on birch.  After dyeing you can apply gel stain to help further even out the finish.  The gel stain will probably not be too blotchy even with only a very light wash coat, but again, you need to test that before you work on the project itself.  After this has cured, you can apply any top coat, but I recommend shellac.  As Pondfish points out the tint in darker shellacs will also help in smoothing out any color differences between the woods.  Shellac is absolutely durable enough for an armoire.

   I assume you have handed your daughter some rubber gloves and a staining rag.  If you call the tune, you must pay the piper.  With your help of course. 

    

    

    

5. 
   Michael | Jan 13, 2006 03:53am | #6

   How about a darker Shellac, say a couple coats of a 3# garnet?

   Jeff Jewitt sells some other shellac colors on his site and you might find the results pleasant.  The woods won't match, but you might find that the finished contrast is a pleasant eye catcher.

   just a thought.

   michael

6. 
   mudman | Jan 13, 2006 06:33pm | #7

   Just do what the comercial furniture industry does. Seal it then add a lot of colour to the finigh coats untill it is all suffeciently obscured. If you try to mix stain to get the birch to match the poplar you can get away with a lighter tone. It is funny because I have had this exact same thing happen at least three times.

   Mike

7. 
   papanick | Jan 13, 2006 06:41pm | #8

   Well- this is probably out of most people's league, but spraying NGR stain is the way to go with this. Then judicious use of toner/shader.

   I've seen poplar matched to mahogany this way.

   It takes a good eye and experience. Commercial finishers can do this for you.

   The older I get, the better I was....