Dustin Brown
03-24-2011, 4:31 PM
I'm working on a stand for my aquarium that is being skinned in stile & rail panels constructed from maple 1x6's and 1/4" maple ply. I've got everything down on the construction part, but now I'm starting to get a plan together on what to use for a finish.
The stand will be in the kitchen so we want it to somewhat match the cabinets. They are diamond brand cabinets, caramel color, satin finish. I was able to get some of the stain they use and it is "MasterBrand Cabinets Air-Dry Finish - Caramel Wipe Stain".
I've been reading a lot about how maple is supposed to be a pain in the butt to stain so I'm looking for some advice on what to do to get a good result with this stain. I've done some birch ply for framing a couple windows with minwax pre-stain condition, this stain, and some minwax satin polyurethane. Also did a maple veneer on top of the wall cabinets. Got a pretty decent result on both, but still not very smooth. The stain was mostly blotch free though, but this was veneer.
My plan so far is to sand the stand down with 220grit paper and sanding pads, use the minwax pre-stain conditioner, and apply the stain with a foam brush. After 5 minutes rub the stain off in a circular motion and finish with the grain. After drying sand very lightly and clean the surface well. Then I was going to use the minwax satin polyurethane spray cans and do about 3-4 coats with a light 220 grit sanding before the final coat.
Does this sound like a plan? Anything I should do differently to get a better result? I'd really like to have a quality looking stand when I'm done. Everything else I've finished was mostly pine or veneer, never solid maple.
Thanks!
The stand will be in the kitchen so we want it to somewhat match the cabinets. They are diamond brand cabinets, caramel color, satin finish. I was able to get some of the stain they use and it is "MasterBrand Cabinets Air-Dry Finish - Caramel Wipe Stain".
I've been reading a lot about how maple is supposed to be a pain in the butt to stain so I'm looking for some advice on what to do to get a good result with this stain. I've done some birch ply for framing a couple windows with minwax pre-stain condition, this stain, and some minwax satin polyurethane. Also did a maple veneer on top of the wall cabinets. Got a pretty decent result on both, but still not very smooth. The stain was mostly blotch free though, but this was veneer.
My plan so far is to sand the stand down with 220grit paper and sanding pads, use the minwax pre-stain conditioner, and apply the stain with a foam brush. After 5 minutes rub the stain off in a circular motion and finish with the grain. After drying sand very lightly and clean the surface well. Then I was going to use the minwax satin polyurethane spray cans and do about 3-4 coats with a light 220 grit sanding before the final coat.
Does this sound like a plan? Anything I should do differently to get a better result? I'd really like to have a quality looking stand when I'm done. Everything else I've finished was mostly pine or veneer, never solid maple.
Thanks!