How To #2: Video Blog: Finishing Softwoods

Giz – Very cool! You are setting a new bar for presentation! Looks like your finish is working great.

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

I would have stained the wall, too.

Why did I not think to tape the top, also?

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

We planned to do that (not tape) so that we can get good coverage on the edge. The walls are only primed. We paint after the wood is finished.. Once the finish is on the wood you can wipe waterbased paint off of it.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Thanks for the info and the video. It’s great to see you and hear your wife enjoying the staining.

-- Jesus is Lord!

The real reason we were giggling: we forgot to open the window.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Wanted to bump this to the top as many people are staining doug fir and pine. This wash really helps with avoiding blotchiness.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Good tutorial, helpful info.

-- Maplewood, MN

Wow, finally a solution to how to finish the bare fir trimming our kitchen!

I saw in your other post that you apply 2 coats of stain before topcoating with shellac mixture. Do you apply the BLO + Mineral Spirits wash prior to each stain coat, or just the first?

Hi,

Glad it helped.

You only have to do the washcoat the first time. Remember that if you are doing the kitchen you will want a more durable top coat. I recommend a coat of de-waxed shellac with several coats of poly on top.

Good luck!

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Great. I was planning on using waterlox as topcoat.

Interestingly, my wife & I found that the mahogany gel stain that worked well for you still went on pretty unevenly on the vertical grain fir, even with the washcoat. I’m not sure what constitutes “blotchy” vs. just “variagated”, but some veins turned out too dark while others were more to our liking, ending up to stripey.

The portion of the scrap piece I tested using the wash and cherrywood gel stain however went on much more evenly, though— not >quite< as dark as I would like, but more to my wife’s taste, so we’ll probably go with that. I’ll post pics of how the pieces looked in my test for posterity.