I need some advice...(w/ pics)

[Tim Brooks]

First of all let me point out that I am a novice, at best, when it comes to doing this woodworking thing but absolutely love the "get away" time. Anyway, I am building a comment/suggestion box for a friend of mine and have built it using popular (I wonder if that was a mistake). I was playing around with some stains to see what would yield a good looking color but I'm not so sure I have chosen the correct wood for staining. I have tried using the Minwax gel stain-Rosewood. I found this color simply too dark. When I tried a regular Minwax stain in the color of maple it looked like baby poop brown against the popular wood. I was disappointed because I liked the maple color. What suggestions would some of you have as far as the stain type and color for use on popular?

Here are some pictures of the box. I will add the lock and hinges last.

35189 35190 35191

Thanks in advance for your input.

[John Branam]

Welcome to the creek, the box looks great! I can not help with the finishing of poplar, the only time I have used I finished it with mlk paint.

[John Kain]

When I stain any poplar now-a-days I go at it one of two ways. If I'm going to use a pigment stain, I'll pretreat the poplar with 1/2 - 1 lb cut of shellac to even up absorption and prevent blotching. The other option (and my preference) is to dye the wood with Transtint/Transfast type stuff then seal it in with shellac. Both methods work pretty well. Poplar is finicky because it'll change colors on you over the next year as the wood oxidizes and is hit by UV.

If you want to go the Transtint/transfast route, "Early American Maple" is a very nice shade that can be darkened quite easily with "Medium Brown".........

[Jim Dunn]

Tim Welcome to creek. You might try your question on the finishing forum here on SMC, course most of those fellows peruse this area too.

[Tim Brooks]

Tim Welcome to creek. You might try your question on the finishing forum here on SMC, course most of those fellows peruse this area too.

Oops. Sorry. I didn't realize there was such a place. I have always frequented this category.