finish poplar shelf to look like walnut

[drumkid02]

Hey Guys;

I'm excited to be a new member and look forward to becoming a part of your family. I hope I can learn and contribute as well. My question is I have to finish a simple shelf 10"D X 60"W X 1 1/2" H. The home owner doesn't want to pay for walnut but wants that look. I figure I'll use poplar so what stain/finish procedure do you recommend.

Thanks in advance

[Bobby Slack]

Kevin. I think you will have to basically paint poplar. There is a very good finishing podcast at matt's basement shop. Listen to this http://mattsbasementworkshop.com/447-thanksgiving-special-with-hendrik-varju/

[Ben@FineWoodworking]

There are some great threads on finishing poplar on here. Do a poplar search and you will be amazed by what some have been able to make poplar look like.

Welcome by the way!

[Bob Rozaieski]

Hey Guys;

I'm excited to be a new member and look forward to becoming a part of your family. I hope I can learn and contribute as well. My question is I have to finish a simple shelf 10"D X 60"W X 1 1/2" H. The home owner doesn't want to pay for walnut but wants that look. I figure I'll use poplar so what stain/finish procedure do you recommend.

Thanks in advance

You can get the color of walnut, but not the look of the open grain (obviously). Here's a poplar table top I did. I was shooting for the color of aged cherry/mahogany. Obviously again, there's no way to get the grain to look like the open grained mahogany, but the color was what I wanted.

First, you need to do test boards before you even think about touching the final piece. Do a bunch of test boards to get the finishing recipe the way you want it. Write down what you do on the back of each board, including amounts of each part, what kind of top coat, how you prepared the board (sand to 220 grit, scrape, etc.), and anything else that might affect the color of the final piece.

To get the color on my table, I used WD Lockwood red mahogany water based dye and top coated with 10-15 thin coats of clear shellac, sanded with 400 grit after every 4 or so coats. Then after the shellac had fully cured (about a week), I rubbed it out with 0000 steel wool lubricated with paste wax.

I really like the water based dyes as they don't blotch like pigment stains, they don't muddy up the grain like pigment stains, and they are really easy to adjust the depth of the color (by adding more or less water tot he powder). If you want to control the dye absorption even more, seal the piece with a coat of sanding sealer (1/2 to 1 lb cut of clear shellac) before dying. I should have done this to my piece, but didn't, so the end grain absorbed way too much dye. Here's a podcast I did on the process. You should easily be able to improve on my results by coating with a wash coat of shellac before dying. Good luck, and remember to do lots of test boards first.

Finishing the Porringer Table

[Bobby Slack]

Bob. Great Post. Thank you for your great contribution.

You can get the color of walnut, but not the look of the open grain (obviously). Here's a poplar table top I did. I was shooting for the color of aged cherry/mahogany. Obviously again, there's no way to get the grain to look like the open grained mahogany, but the color was what I wanted.

First, you need to do test boards before you even think about touching the final piece. Do a bunch of test boards to get the finishing recipe the way you want it. Write down what you do on the back of each board, including amounts of each part, what kind of top coat, how you prepared the board (sand to 220 grit, scrape, etc.), and anything else that might affect the color of the final piece.

To get the color on my table, I used WD Lockwood red mahogany water based dye and top coated with 10-15 thin coats of clear shellac, sanded with 400 grit after every 4 or so coats. Then after the shellac had fully cured (about a week), I rubbed it out with 0000 steel wool lubricated with paste wax.

I really like the water based dyes as they don't blotch like pigment stains, they don't muddy up the grain like pigment stains, and they are really easy to adjust the depth of the color (by adding more or less water tot he powder). If you want to control the dye absorption even more, seal the piece with a coat of sanding sealer (1/2 to 1 lb cut of clear shellac) before dying. I should have done this to my piece, but didn't, so the end grain absorbed way too much dye. Here's a podcast I did on the process. You should easily be able to improve on my results by coating with a wash coat of shellac before dying. Good luck, and remember to do lots of test boards first.

Finishing the Porringer Table

[AceHoleInOne]

What I like to do:

The key to poplar, have an even background. Using a dye, either water-based, alcohol based or even a toned thin coat of shellac. Blending the green heart and white sapwood together, as best you can. The easiest way to achieve is to spray.

I read so much on the internet, that it’s a piece of cake, just some blotch control, and that your good to go. Not saying it can’t be that easy, however, if you have limited finishing skills, it can be a challenge!

So here goes, what I like to do, spray a couple thin toned coats of amber shellac. Toned shellac will give you the amber tone and blotch control in one step. The toned shellac will also help the endgrain from taking up too much stain and going dark. Careful not to spray too wet or you could blotch.

Color:

Apply a Mahogany stain.

Seal in the dry stain with a topcoat.

Light scuff with 320 (go easy) your topcoat and glaze over the dry topcoat with more Mahogany to even your color.

Apply your topcoat.

Sounds simple, it can be.

-Ace-

**Disclaimer** I usually don’t like to recommend colors, because every finisher’s eye is different. Spend a little money on various stains and dyes to perfect your technique and colors, as well as, practice, practice, practice. :angry:

[BuilderBill]

Hey Guys;

I'm excited to be a new member and look forward to becoming a part of your family. I hope I can learn and contribute as well. My question is I have to finish a simple shelf 10"D X 60"W X 1 1/2" H. The home owner doesn't want to pay for walnut but wants that look. I figure I'll use poplar so what stain/finish procedure do you recommend.

Thanks in advance

Let me see if I'm reading you right: The customer doesn't want to pay the material cost for real walnut but wants you to spend extra labor and finishing material making poplar look like walnut? And reduce your price in the process?

This so easy : "Using walnut on this piece will cost you X $ over the material cost of poplar BUT the extra labor and materials to make poplar look like walnut will cost you Y $". Now it's up to you to make sure that Y>X, that shouldn't be difficult....

Pet peeve of mine, getting hammered on for pricing. It's been going on for 4 years now and I've finally come to the realization that I'd rather not work at all than work for next to nothing. Oprah may not pay much but at least I don't have to chase all over the country to get a check.....

Time is money: making poplar look like walnut takes time. Are you being fair to yourself?

My $.02 worth,

Bill