I had a friend make this cabinet for me and I wanted to stain it cobalt gray. As you can see… the first coat didn’t come out well. He told me to add shellac BEFORE staining which seemed odd to me but he insisted. And so I did.
I’m thinking that may have hindered me in the long run. Would I be able to sand it down a little and re-stain it to get it to look how I want? Or am I resigned to just painting it now.
This piece is is more of a function over form thing as I will be hauling it around to art shows in the region to use as storage and a point-of-sale station.
Oak and Poplar.
What are your thoughts?
Replies
Frankly, I think it looks pretty good as it is. It has a rather old, worn and well used look. A lot of folks work very hard to achieve that look. You might consider applying a clear coat on it and see how that looks.
However, if that is not what you like, I think the best solution is to use a chemical stripper to get back to where you started and try again. With the stripper applied, you may need to use a stiff brush to get the stain out of the deep grain of the oak. Be sure to neutralize the stripper and then re-sand everything through 180 or 220 grit. You might try an oil based gel stain if you are having problem with blotching.
The idea behind using shellac is to pre-treat the wood to prevent blotching. Use a de-waxed shellac ( Zinsser Seal Coat ) and thin it 50-50 with denatured alcohol. Then give a light sanding before applying any stain.
Good luck.
I think your issue is, you are using the same stain on two very different woods. Oak will not absorb stain the same way that poplar will. And even if you get them to look the same right now, they will age differently.
If you decide to strip, practice on samples of both woods before you stain the real thing. If it was me, I would paint it.
Poplar generally is not a great wood for stain given it usually has a green tint to it. Walnut stains look good on poplar, otherwise it's usually reserved for painted projects or as a material used for hidden structural components.
Also, as another said it is unreasonable to expect poplar and oak to look the same no matter what.
Given you will be lugging the piece around and it will get scratched up and rained on you may be further ahead to paint it (more protection than stain). If you do that I'd recommend a coat of water based (not oil based) polyurethane on top of the paint.
Or just put a three coats of water based poly on and be done with it. Maybe screw some lift handles to the sides, too.
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