The finish schedule for the curly maple jewelry cabinet is below .... I make no claims of repeatability here. Everyone will get different results from this recipe; slightly different results each time. It lends a certain anxiety to the process but it is something, I think, that makes our furniture stand out a bit from the crowd, ... ... We mix the basic colors as Lockwood advises, one ounce by weight to one quart of warm water, which represent the full strength stains mentioned below. Over time, the colors can increase in strength through evaporation. It is totally required that you make a complete, good size finish sample all the choice through inlcuding varnishes and gel stains with all stain/water ratios carefully noted before moving on to staining and finishing a whole piece of furniture.
1st coat lockwood light golden brown walnut (4 to 5 parts water to 1 part stain), brushed on, sponged off to raise the grain.
That is sanded pretty good when dry with 150 or 180 3m 216U or equivalent. At this point you can still fix defects that come to light as you sand. Recoat and resand lightly if necessary.
A 2nd coat of dye is then applied ( 1 part standard brown walnut + 1 part american walnut to 8 parts water.
Do not sand that coat of stain, but when dry, apply the first coat of gloss varnish (Minwax fast
dry poly) Brush on a nice wet coat with a foam brush and leave it in a dust free place if you have one.
We sand that lightly with 400 wet or dry and then in this case, we applied another coat of the dilute light golden brown walnut over everything because it didnt look quite right to us at that point, compared to the original sample. That doesnt move the color much, but it is noticeable ...
Brush it on, sponge it off. At this point you should be getting a good idea of the finished color.
Then we use a minwax aged oak gel stain and after at least a 24 hr dry time, apply a second coat of minwax fast dry poly SATIN, again with a foam brush.
That is sanded very lightly with 1000 grit wet and dry 3M, and topcoated with a mix of poly and linseed oil, wiped on, wiped off, completely dry ... 3 poly, one oil or thereabouts ...
After that, the cabinet was reassembled and the hardware was installed...
Not fast, totally subjective, but in my opinion, its where the Art lives.
Before starting, also please read this blog entry ...
target="_blank"2009/12/mysteries-and-art-of-finishing.html
Here is another stain link with other info ...
Read More..
ok, heres a big one ... 40 " wide, 12 long, with our standard steel shaker base. this time we did the steel in our new rainbow finish. we purchased this new patina color from our friends at sur-fin chemical company. its a little fussier and more unpredictable than our regular blackening chemical, but the results are quite striking. browns and blacks with subtle hints of other colors in the right light. looks great with the expresso finish on this table ... .
the expresso finish was a request from the designer, and we had to make a number of samples before we got one we all liked. the finish that we used this time appears thinner, and more like an oil finish, and we plan to try it on some of our upcoming natural finish tables.
there was also a request for no cracks, which led us to advanced repair technologies no shrink, tintable, epoxy filler. after a little experimenting, that new product is also a hit with us. it takes a couple of days to dry really hard, but if we hit it right, we can do it on a friday and flush it up monday ... 
as seen on this old house
the filled crack after leveling ... trevor loosely fitted some pieces of walnut with similar grain into the largest of the cracks before filling them. 
this crack is in one of the other, natural finish tables were working on and we filled this large crack with smaller pieces of the darkest wood we can find, which was also an effective technique ... more on that table later ...
the slab was too big to get to the cnc upstairs, so trevor routed for the bases by hand with a bearing and a template.
the bottom of the 10 natural table ...
and will in steve holmans spray booth before the final topcoats over the expresso stain ... nice booth ... nice finish ...
georgine macgarvey and barbara melhado organized the show again this year, with assistance from penny and jim viscusi. they rounded up the usual suspects, including above and below, matt harding. his painted steel sculpture is out the front door, on the town green.
a room full of harry shoklers
and other fine artists too numerous to mention ... the show runs through september 16th ... stop in ...
The CAD drawing showing the overall layout and dimensions ...
The original bar cabinet with an blackened finish on the walnut ...
We started with the legs. Will made the notches for the moldings on the tablesaw.
Next we ran some panel details on the cnc which defined the centers of the stepped panels, defined the center molding location and gave him a place to start with his frame pieces.
The end panel and front apron are completed ... doors and moldings next ...
