Night Stands Finished

[Leigh Betsch]

Put the final touch on a couple of cherry night stands. Brass and maple (dyed black) drawer pulls that I built. Every piece I make has some sort of metal accent, kinda like putting on the jewelry.
Wood finish is dye and hand rubbed film finish, no blotching of the curly cherry at all.

[John Keeton]

Not my style, but they look great! Nice job on the finish, and the dyed maple turned out extremely well.

[Leigh Betsch]

Thanks. My style has always been a bit off from most normal people. But that's ok with me. Probably why I can't ever find anything I like, gotta make most things. ;)

[Khalid Khattak]

thats look really great:)

[John Keeton]

My style has always been a bit off from most normal people.
"Normalcy" is a term used to describe the masses. Unfortunately, it is rarely used in reference to true talent, genius, artisitic creativity, etc. I wouldn't worry about fitting in with "normal people." You seem to be doing fine where you are.

[Jim Becker]

Looks wonderful, Leigh!

[gary Zimmel]

Great job on the night stand Leigh.

Extra points for the hand built pulls.

[Ken Werner]

Looks very good Leigh. Did you leave enough open stoarge for WWing mags and books? Could you describe how you dyed the maple?

Thanks for the post.
Ken

[Prashun Patel]

Beautiful finish. The dyed maple looks like granite!

[Dewey Torres]

Contrast works very well. Thanks for sharing.

[Tim Plantz]

Beautiful Leigh! And I'm with Ken, please let us know more about how you dyed and finished this great piece.

[Leigh Betsch]

thanks for the compliments. If inferring that anyone one here is "normal" was and insult I appoligize.
If you can follow this thread http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=840717#post840717 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=840717#post840717)
The final entry I explain what I did to finish the pieces. Before I applied the Black EM8000 sealer and the Black USL lacquer, I applied 5 or 6 coats of Trans Tint black dye mixed with alcohol. I use alcohol instead of water because it doesn't raise the grain and it dries so fast so I can just keep recoating. I finished everything in pieces and assembled the units afterword so I could keep the black from getting into the cherry finish. Because I finished everything before assembling you can see the joint lines in the black maple frame. I knew this would happen so I used Trans Tint dye before the black sealer and black lacquer just to make sure the end grain would get good and black and not leave a white joint line. I leveled the surfaces with various grades of sandpaper and finished by hand rubbing with polishing compounds to a dead flat no orange peel finish.
I did cheat a bit on the drawer pulls. I used Trans Tint and alcohol to dye the maple and then used a rattle can of Borg clear gloss lacquer to finish. I then used alcohol to strip the clear lacquer off the brass.
The high gloss hand rubbed film finish is a lot of work but I like the clarity and depth it gives to the cherry.

[Don Bullock]

I have to admit that I had the same reaction that John had. The tables are beautiful and your craftsmanship is superb.

[Mark Valsi]

NOT MY STYLE either,

but very nice loooking !! outside the box, to use an overused trite expression

[Mark Singer]

Very nice work! I like the style too!

[John Thompson]

Very interesting contrast, Leigh. I wouldn't be too concerned about what "turns us on" so much as what "turns her on". "Us" just get a quick peek... she will critique it for well... till whatever do us part. That's reality! :)

Nice...

Sarge..