Night Stand (post ten)

Well, the night stands are done. I spent about two weeks finishing the pair. Here's the process in thumbnail - first, I mixed a aniline dye and thoroughly covered the entire piece, inside and out. After some sanding (because the water raised the grain) I coated the pair in a coat of varnish thinned with mineral spirits. This sealed the dye and allowed me to then rub in gel stain. I used a mahogany gel stain which colored the deep grain of the oak in an even, dark color matching the aged appearance of the original pieces I attempted to match. After this was thoroughly rubbed in I then put on 3 coats of poly. I put a few more coats on the top sanding between coats to level the surface.

After this was all complete I installed the hardware.