Finally, the third entertainment center project is complete. This project was a custom maple piece stained to match the existing wood furniture in the room. Matching any existing or proprietary stain can be difficult but once you get a sample that is acceptable the trick is to make the whole thing look like the sample. In this case it took a 4 step process.
The steps I took are as follows…
After sanding to about 150 grit ( any smoother would prevent good penetration of the stain) I applied the first coat of stain, in this case a very dark walnut. I applied the stain full strength with a foam brush and let it sit. After about 10 minutes the stain was wiped off with a clean rag and left to dry overnight.
Step 2 was a tinting process. In this process I used some sanding sealer thinned to about 50% and mixed in some of the stain. This worked out to be about 70-30 mix (70% sealer-30% stain). With my spray gun at low pressure (about 20-30 psi) and with a wide spray pattern I evenly sprayed the pieces until the color was just right and matched my sample letting it dry overnight.
Step 3 was to coat with about 2-3 coats of sanding sealer making sure I get the edges sealed well so as not to sand through the stain, especially on any routed profiles that may take a little extra rubbing to get smooth for the topcoat.
And step 4 was to apply at least 2 coats of satin lacquer topcoat, lightly rubbing between coats. As always when doing stained pieces there will be some touch-up and it helps to have a small touch-up gun or air brush for this. I pre-assembled the pieces in the shop for easier installation... see pics below..
As always, any questions or comments are welcome.
A special thanks goes out to NASCAR Bud for having a house big enough to need all this millwork and a shop to build it in. You can hear his show on Thursdays at 7:30 am on QFM96 with Wags & Elliot.
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