Mission Chest of Drawers Completed

Garyb6, the finish is beautiful! Tell us more. What type wood is it made of? What finish did you use? I like it!

-- Randy, Tupelo, MS ~ May I become more like the Master Carpenter every day.

Very nice. Looks great. I am also interested in the finish.

-- Tim from Iowa City, IA

Thanks for the compliments. The chest is made from red oak. For the finish I used a mixture of light red mahogny and mission brown analine dyes mixed in water. The ratio was about 4 to 1 red to brown. Once this was dry I sanded with 320 git sandpaper and then applied a coat of shellac. Once that was dry I wiped it down with a brown mahagony gel. This tones down the red and makes the grain pop. I then put on 3 more coats of shellac. I borrowed most of this process from others and then just tested different methods on scrap until I came up with something that worked for me.

-- Garyb6, “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler” - Albert Einstein

Great looking finish Gary…. Nice work!

-- Chris

that is pretty good. I wouldn’t have ever guessed red oak. So different from how my last project turned out (also red oak). I think you are a better finisher though.

That is one nice piece. I bet you could get a lot of work finishing for the jocks on this site. I know it’s not my favorite part of the build.

-- bbqKing, Lawrenceville

Thanks bbqKing, but if I never pick up another piece of sandpaper it will be too soon. That’s one of the reasons it took so long to finish this project, I kept putting off sanding.

-- Garyb6, “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler” - Albert Einstein

Nicely done! I totally empathize with the drawer face situation. I told myself that gives it that “handmade” look. Can’t wait to see the rest of the set. I’m right there with you.

-- You can't control the wind, but you can trim your sails