Oil or Stain?

[HowardH]

I'm building a printer stand for my son's room out of some Poplar I had laying around.  I'm pretty close to starting the finishing process and wanted a darker finish.  I have some walnut gel stain but wondered is there is an oil I could apply instead?  It's usually a bit for forgiving than stain.  I tried a sample with some Watco Danish Oil and it's not very dark at all.  I'm planning on spraying lacquer as my top coat if that makes a difference.  BTW, it's one of my favorite ways of spending a Sunday...  Woodworking and watching the Masters at the same time!  Go Jordan!

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[Redcarjoiner]

Hello there I am not an expert but have seen gel stain mixed with oil on gun stocks but you have to do sample patches to get the colour as you want.

 

[Scott B.]

My vote is gel stain.

 

[leakyroof]

I used some Popular trim to make "Craftsman' style baseboards for my Mother-in-law's kitchen. I used Old Masters Gel Stains, 2 different colors, one right after the other. let dry overnight, then a quick coat of sanding Sealer/Shellac next.  After that dried, I applied a Waterbase Top Coat. Got the color control I wanted, you couldn't see the Green from the poplar at all, and the very low cost of the 5" or so wide trim boards was perfect for her limited budget.

 

[leakyroof]

Here are some shots of the trim in progress of being stained and finished. Like Scott, I can't really recommend an Oil finish for Poplar since you get some very easy to spot differences of early and heartwood in most boards.  Basically Cream color switches to shades of Green on you...as I'm sure you already know .

 

[leakyroof]

Next step.

 

[leakyroof]

Sanding Sealer over the 2 Gel Colors-

 

[leakyroof]

last shot- Installed in the Pantry. Wax stick for the nail holes to match the color pretty well after install.

 

[Scott B.]

Nice!

 

[ear3]

Wow.  The color + grain looks great.  Didn't realize poplar could look that tidy.

last shot- Installed in the Pantry. Wax stick for the nail holes to match the color pretty well after install.

 

[leakyroof]

Wow.  The color + grain looks great.  Didn't realize poplar could look that tidy.

last shot- Installed in the Pantry. Wax stick for the nail holes to match the color pretty well after install.

  I know, who knew.... [big grin]  But we've been fooled for years with secondary woods being used in Furniture, and made to look like something more expensive.  [embarassed]

 

[leakyroof]

Nice!

  Thanks Scott. It was a labor of love bringing the Kitchen back a bit. She'd put up with crumbling old vinyl or linoleum floor tiling and 60's resilient Cove Baseboard long enough.  We all got lucky that the Maple Flooring underneath was in good enough shape to bring back to life.