Practice Attempt #3

For my next and what I hope will be my final practice attempt, I re-stained the top piece from the cabinet I had previously stained, and scrubbed down from Practice Attempt #2.  For this one I put together all that I had read and learned through trial and error and came up with my own method...

I reasoned that every time I put on new stain, no matter how long I waited, I was pulling up old stain.  So it stands to reason that if I sealed each layer in with a thin coat of poly, then the next coat wouldn't pull up the last.  Good plan right?

And of course, this time the boss was watching...

After lightly sanding the top piece one more time and wiping it down, I used the sock method to smear on a thin coat of Walnut stain.  I let that dry for a good six to eight hours.  Then I gently smeared on a very thin coat of General Finishes Wipe on Polyurethane in Satin using a new sock.  I let that dry for about the same six to eight hours. Then came the moment of truth...I used a clean corner of the staining sock and smeared on a thin but healthy coat of Walnut stain.  I quickly smeared it as evenly as I could and then wiped it off trying to leave a very thin coat behind.

It worked!!!!  The stain was going on evenly, it was not pulling up the color as before, and the color was deepening very slightly.  I had hope again.  The next morning, another thin coat of wipe on poly, and six hours after that another very thin coat of Walnut stain.  And here is the result after three coats of stain and two coats of poly...(it is the part in the middle).

The blotchiness on the main cabinet is due to the fact that I didn't completely clean off the old stain or try for perfection on that part.  My main focus was on the fake drawer front.  I am super pleased with how even and rich the color is looking on that part.  I placed an original honey oak piece on top for comparison.  The bottom door still has the "painted" on stain from Attempt #2 which I do not like. 









Here is another shot of the cabinet and the original honey oak color in the background.  What do you think?  One more coat of poly and stain?  I think so too.  One more shade darker and I think it will be just perfect.











Update...After the looking at the cabinet in the morning light, I have decided that it is still too orange for my liking.  The color is much closer to the red in the top picture, even though it looks more brown in the second.  This color would be okay if it is the best I can do, but what I really want is a rich walnut color with less orange.  Oh, and if someone would just get that pea out from under my mattress, life would be perfect!