Seek advise for staining and finishing large maple counter top.
- Thread starter Howad
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Howad
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- Mar 14, 2013
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I attached a picture of the finished counter. The lighting is bad but, thankfully it looks better in person. Took it to the clients house this week for storage 'cause I had to get it out of my shop to make room for me to start on the rest of the cabinet. They loved it even more than the sample I made which was a huge relief 'cause I had to change the recipe. Here's what I finally did:
-two coats of Charles Neil Blotch Control - sponged on wet, wiped dry with a shop towel, scuff sand with 400.
-sponged on GF dark brown dye, wiped with towel, let dry.
-sprayed about a half pound cut of shellac (mixed Zinsser Seal Coat 50/50 with denatured alcohol).
-Sponged on GF vintage cherry dye like above.
-Sprayed 4 coats of GE poly acrylic (satin).
To me the key steps that saved the day were the Charles Neil Blotch Control and using the shellac between applications of dye/stain. The BC is sooo much easier to work with and works way better.
For what it is worth, I attached to pics from earlier in the process, one showing a dye on top of GF pre stain which still shows lots of blotch or unevenness in color and one of just before the final schedule. You can see remnants of the dye in the darkened open grin but I was going dark and wanted some grain accentuation anyway.
Just a brief detour here to tell a "back story". When I got into trouble with this counter, in addition to posting here and asking a furniture-maker friend, I asked for advise from the folks at my local Woodcraft (Rockville MD). They asked me to write an email describing my issues which they, in turn, forwarded to Charles Neil who teaches a finishing class at their shop periodically. He responded quickly with advise and then suggested some thing that I would have never guessed would transpire- He offered to come to my house and take care of my issues so long as he could film the process for his on line finishing class! So that is when my nightmare turned into a "best case scenario" learning experience. He wanted to demo for his finishing class subscribers, a "regular guy" with a finishing problem that a lot of people run into. It was a great experience, learned a ton, but more importantly, spent a day with a great guy and his buddies Jim and Ed. Previously, I thought he was just a finishing guru, but I learned that he makes some beautiful furniture - truly masterful stuff. his website is full of good information - not just finishing.
So thanks to Charles and friends and Tim and everyone else who posts on this forum.
-two coats of Charles Neil Blotch Control - sponged on wet, wiped dry with a shop towel, scuff sand with 400.
-sponged on GF dark brown dye, wiped with towel, let dry.
-sprayed about a half pound cut of shellac (mixed Zinsser Seal Coat 50/50 with denatured alcohol).
-Sponged on GF vintage cherry dye like above.
-Sprayed 4 coats of GE poly acrylic (satin).
To me the key steps that saved the day were the Charles Neil Blotch Control and using the shellac between applications of dye/stain. The BC is sooo much easier to work with and works way better.
For what it is worth, I attached to pics from earlier in the process, one showing a dye on top of GF pre stain which still shows lots of blotch or unevenness in color and one of just before the final schedule. You can see remnants of the dye in the darkened open grin but I was going dark and wanted some grain accentuation anyway.
Just a brief detour here to tell a "back story". When I got into trouble with this counter, in addition to posting here and asking a furniture-maker friend, I asked for advise from the folks at my local Woodcraft (Rockville MD). They asked me to write an email describing my issues which they, in turn, forwarded to Charles Neil who teaches a finishing class at their shop periodically. He responded quickly with advise and then suggested some thing that I would have never guessed would transpire- He offered to come to my house and take care of my issues so long as he could film the process for his on line finishing class! So that is when my nightmare turned into a "best case scenario" learning experience. He wanted to demo for his finishing class subscribers, a "regular guy" with a finishing problem that a lot of people run into. It was a great experience, learned a ton, but more importantly, spent a day with a great guy and his buddies Jim and Ed. Previously, I thought he was just a finishing guru, but I learned that he makes some beautiful furniture - truly masterful stuff. his website is full of good information - not just finishing.
So thanks to Charles and friends and Tim and everyone else who posts on this forum.
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tiralie
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- Jan 26, 2010
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- 3,617
That's great!Hoj said:
I will have to order some and check it out.Hoj said:
I have noticed that much of the furniture my wife and I have bought (retail) has a "blotch control" layer. Particularly the maple. You can sometimes see the "blotch control" layer when there is some wear and pealing in the furniture and the top coat pulls off the stain.
Hoj said:
That's cool. I would have loved to have been there.
Hoj said:
Thanks for posting your project and your updates.
I know it's difficult to admit defeat when it comes to finishing, and posting takes time and effort.
I really enjoyed seeing the progress and I learned some new things.
Thanks again.
Tim
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