Finishing up my first woodworking project, would appreciate advice!
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Hello,
This is my first major woodworking project. The model that inspired me is the first attached photo. The following photos are of my work. I’m a bit torn as to how to finish the project, whether or not to keep the original color or how dark to go with the stain. The model picture (I can’t find the original with different lighting conditions) looks fairly dark. I want my piece to look fairly uniform but not to lose too much of the colors and textures of the wood. The last two pictures aim to show what I think are some very nice pieces of wood in terms of patterns and colors.
So, the first question is. If I were to go for the original stained effect, what color would I need to buy?
Second, what would you suggest I do, that might look best?
Three, on the night picture with the back LED lights, you can see the light creeps in through the cracks, do you think it would be worth maybe putting some sort of backing to avoid the light coming through?
THANKS! I really appreciate your help and advice.
Luis
Replies
You have quite a few different kinds of wood there, I doubt you'll get uniform color with a stain. In fact it will probably accentuate the differences.
If you still have the scraps run some tests, but I'd clear coat it and live with it for what it is. As for the light coming through; see if it bugs you when you lie down. I think it looks kinda cool with the gaps.
You have to decide what looks good to you and maybe what goes well with other furniture in the room. Since you're using pallet wood which has a rough and random look to it, I agree with ML I prefer the look with no stain and finish of clear satin waterborne poly for protection.
My complements on your project! Nice rustic look and very functional. If you really want to eliminate the gaps I would suggest you get a piece of 1/4" ply to cover the back. But for me, I would enjoy the look, not worry about it. When you are asleep, the cracks are not visible, right? Save your money on the ply and buy some chisels, Or routers. Or pull saws. Or . . . Well, you get the idea.
GOOD JOB!!
Thank you all very much. Honestly, I had an inkling there were a couple kinds of woods, but hadn't thought there were that many. Makes sense though how different the pieces are. I had assumed from reading stuff online that pallets come in pine or one other type of wood.
As I'm looking at the stability, I may add a very light frame to cover the unsightly back side and give the floating sides steadiness against the wall.
Live and learn. I realize now if I wanted something like what's on the original pinterest picture I needed to make sure all the wood was the same time. I'm thinking of maybe going matte. In my bedroom (aside from the actual bed) it's my only piece of bedroom the rest is part of the rental, so that's temporary.
Looks great! Have you thought about using dyes as opposed to stain? They do not obscure the grain of the wood like stain and are very easy to work with. You buy a powder at a place like lee valley and then dissolve it in water. If I were you I would get an aniline dye, mix it up to full strength and then cut it by 1/2 or 3/4. Get some scraps and try it out. Diluted like that this would give the wood all a similar tone but retain the individuality of each one. You could theN Finish With danish oil and a few coats of wiping varnish. If you need more on dyes look them up in the magazine or get Bob Flexner’s book.
I think the model picture used alternating species of wood to get a striped effect. If you stain your pallet wood given the roughness it would tend to stain on the darker side for any given stain but given the randomness of your wood, I see what I think are a couple varieties of pine, maybe some Hickory and other unidentified wood but it's really a guess from that picture, it's hard to say what the overall effect would be. You could always carefully try staining the back to get a feel if you would like the stained look then cover it with plywood or hardboard.
I would leave it plain, as it is rather cool as an obvious pallet-wood design.
You could wipe it with some isopropyl alcohol to see what it will probably look like with a clear coat
As others have said, this will not stain evenly, and I think you will get blotches - pallet wood tends to be weak and porous so will soak stain unevenly.
One option you might go for is milk paint. That would provide an even colour wash. Also trendy right now. If applied thinly, you would still see the underlying wood, or you could sand it back lightly to give a distressed look. This works well with pallet wood, especially if you use a soft sanding backer (like a wad of fabric) as the softer wood will wear away faster, raising the grain some.
As for the light coming through, I'd be lazy and staple some old fabric to the back.
The wall in the 1st picture looks manufactured not built. Like someone bought it in sections and assembled it. Your build, however, looks great. Just don't stress over things only you'll notice. And dyes sound like the way to go.
Mikaol
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