I have made quite a few pieces of furniture for my house over the years but I do not consider myself a true master craftsman when it comes to furniture making and especially the finishing aspect of the project. Most of the pieces I have made have been of pine (stained finish, painted, milk paint), maple (stained or natural) , or birch (stained or natural). I have done one set of end tables in cherry and left them natural as well. When I say “natural” I mean sealed (poly or oil) with no stain.
I am in the middle of finishing a new master bathroom and I need to make a vanity. Since the tile and marble in the bathroom are white or off white, my wife would like a vanity that is dark in color as a contrast. She wants the vanity to look like a piece of furniture with a Carerra marble slab top.
My first thoughts are using either cherry or mahogany. When I am out and about, I see furniture made from these two woods that has such a deep, rich finish. The finish makes the wood look natural, not stained and sealed, it I am explaining myself correctly. All of the peices I have stained in the past “look” stained, it doesn’t have that warm, natural look. I realize that some of this look comes from just the patina of the wood that naturally comes with age, but are there any suggestions or hints anyone has that I might try to get a more natural, fine furniture type finish? Shellac as opposed to poly? Dye as opposed to stain?
Anything anyone can contribute would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks……Brian, Bayview Renovations
Replies
Bayviewrr,
You might take a gander at this http://www.rlmillard.typepad.com/
Rob is a fabulous furniture maker, he specializes on antique replicas. He's constantly updating his technique so you might find several ideas.
Mahogany would be a good material to finish. It doesn't have "blotching" problems and can be dyed and stained to achieve a wide variety of looks. The draw back that adds a bit of compexity to the finishing process is the open pores that for a formal furniture look should be filled.
The first step to finishing, as Jim Becker has often said, is to choose the material well. Look for boards that have the same color tones and figure. Also buy enough extra that you have plenty to make tests of potential finishing schedules.
Then you need to decide on the look you have in mind. How dark is dark, what color to choose--since mahogany can range from golden to dark reddish brown. It can be a very mild wood with even coloration--more the furniture store look, or it can have some of the highlights and undertones give some quite dramatic looks to mahogany furniture in museums.
Lots of ways to skin this cat, give us some specifics and we should be able to put together some ideas on how to get there.
I am in the process of staining doors using transtint dyes mixed with shellac. If you've never tried dyes before, you might want to give it a go. The dye has a much richer color than any stain I've previously used. The doors I am working on are made of fir. I would have like to have purchased mahogany doors but I did not have that type of money to invest, so I am trying to create a nice finish using a lesser wood. After spraying on the dye, I intend to use waterlox varnish as a top coat. I'm not at that stage yet, so I cannot tell you what the results are. But so far, I have been mostly pleased with how the dye is coloring the wood.
But I understand the look you're going for. We have a marble top vanity in our bathroom and it has a very dark walnut finish to contrast the marble. I did not build the piece, however.
If you're not interested in using a dye stain, I would select a really nice wood like mahogany and then use a clear finish that will show the patina developing in the wood as it ages.
Have you considered walnut, with an oil finish, such as danish oil or similar? that can be the final finish, or apply something over it. Nice look.
Woody
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