Hi
Currently I’m in a project of making a simple coffee table made with Birch plywood(id say its a higher quality for a CONSTRUCTIONAL plywood but certainly not an furniture grade plywood) and red oak. Client asked me for more of a walnut/chestnut typer pf a color as a finish.
So I first appplied a water based stain with wood conditioner(from the same manufacturer also water based) , however the color was a bit too orange so I added multiple layer of garnet shellac plus dark walnut colored oil stain on top of that hoping it will make the color to the clients liking. And it didn’t. At this moment I didn’t know what to do so I decided to strip off ALL OF the finish and stain. I believe that I got all the finishes off(might did a bad job on refreshing the surface I don’t know)
Then I applied water based stain, this time color came out exactly what the client wanted it, but turned out SUPER blotchy and way too far from my satisfaction, so I re-stripped it again. (one thing I noticed here is I didn’t stripped enough of shellac from a previous coat because all the residues came out when I was trying to strip the color. )
After all these back and force of work, It still looks blotchy when I apply a water to see how it will look with finishes. Parts where oak is at seems fine but the birch plywood part is very messy, I tried sanding them off with 150 grit sanding with orbital sanders but still not working (Or I might just have to keep sanding?)I also dont want to do too much sanding since I dont want to cut through the veneer.
I feel very stuck at this moment and dont really know the best way to proceed with this project. Is it better to try keep cleaning up? If so what would be a good solution for re-prepping the surface? Or Should I possibly do a technique (filling the pores with matching color of finish, or tinting the parts are not ‘Blotchy’ im not very confident about these options but just guessing.)
Hoping somebody might have an advice or similar experience with this so that I can have a better understanding of what to do next.
Apologize for a long sentences.
Replies
Some pictures of the blotching (when wetted) would help.
“[Deleted]”
@JEarch
Here are some
It's not really blotchy as much as it is grain that is figured with curl and flash. A wipe-down with mineral spirits would have shown this. There are problems with this project not least of which is the plywood situation, if this was meant to be a furniture project you probably should have veneered over the plywood so you could control for grain figure, or hand picked each sheet.
I see, I certainly did not check with mineral spirits. ill take this experience as a good reminder of that
This is what happens when a completed project is used as a finish sample.
… Currently I’m in a project of making a simple coffee table made with Birch plywood(id say its a higher quality for a CONSTRUCTIONAL plywood but certainly not an furniture grade plywood) and red oak. Client asked me for more of a walnut/chestnut typer pf a color as a finish…
I don’t mean to be rude but using a non furniture grade plywood of the wrong color was probably a bad start to meet the clients expectations, what about using walnut ply and starting over.
Btw, the color you achieved is no where close to walnut or chestnut .
Restart. You're not saving it at this point. It was doomed before you even began.
Don't use construction lumber for furniture unless the client is WELL aware they will be getting junk or you're a bad YouTuber looking for clicks.
Hell, construction goods are not even acceptable for construction half the time these days...
If they want a $100 table, give them a URL to IKEA.
If they want something half decent, it costs money, and if they don't realize that you REALLY don't want them as a client.
I agree that walnut ply is the bare minimum if you insist on using this strategy.
Coloring wood is hard, and finishing is hard, especially when you start doing multiple things and using multiple products, multiple times.. Perhaps it's just my inexperience talking—well, I'm sure it is.
I use wood that's naturally closest to the color I want and use a simple finish, which minimizes my opportunities to ruin things and the need to spend time testing.
If you are going to complicate things, you definitely need to invest the time to test what you're doing before putting your project- or worse, the customer's project—on the line.