Texfire Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 I'm making a cat shaped bandsawn box for my girlfriend for her birthday. I got all the sawing and most of the gluing done today. One last cut in the box that needs to be glued, but I ran out of clamps and clamping area. Other than the internal cuts being a little rougher than I would like, the building process went pretty well. I sanded the exterior before cutting the back off with my spindle sander. I also used the spindle sander to clean up the inside of the drawers before putting them back together. After I get back from work on Thursday, I'll glue the last cut. I'll hit the inside the box before final assembly with the sander then glue the back on. The drawers will be ready for sanding on the exterior. A final sanding on the box and it should be ready to finish. This is were my confidence leaves me. I've never done much finishing, so I'm totally in the dark. The wood is Poplar, it's what I had on hand which was appropriate for a first go, but it doesn't really fit in with the rest of her furniture if just oiled, and there's the greenish cast too. I'm leaning towards staining it. Here's the current plan. After final sanding, apply a coat of dewaxed shellac (1lb cut). Next, two or three coats of a General Finishes Antique Cherry water based stain. Finally a coat of matte Polycrylic. Planning on a light sanding between coats. Any problems with that? Overkill? Any gotchas to watch out for? Things that would turn out better? I'm planning on reviewing Marc's videos on finishing before doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 there is a post in finishing on poplar( Poplar staining problem the green is killing me!!! )maybe that will help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted April 6, 2011 Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 I searched for "poplar finishing" and found a bunch of hits. These looks promising: Poplar not so popular Poplar finished to look like walnut Repairing a blotched finish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texfire Posted April 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2011 Guess I should have posted this in finishing, feel free to move it there. I'm aware that there is potential for blotching, and I'm prepared to paint it if I need to, but wanted to try staining it first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texfire Posted April 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2011 I'm at a decision point now. I've got it assembled and sanded to 120 grit. Now I have to decide which finish, my planned 1lb cut Shellac/Cherry Stain/Polycoat, or a couple of coats of an oil like walnut or tung. I don't mind admitting I'm nervous about trying a new finish on something where I have very little time for error. I'll have Sunday evening and all day Monday to do whatever I do, I hit the road Tuesday to give it to the recipient for her birthday. I'm losing Saturday and half of Sunday to work. If there's another easy option with little prospect of messing up I'm all ears. I took one picture without the flash, and three with so the grain would show up. One question about the green tint, is that an artifact of the flash, or more how the wood is going to look finished? Lessons learned. I went a little complicated for a first effort, but the cat profile dictated that. I modified the design a little mid-project and used a keyhole bit to allow her the option of hanging it on a wall. I considered using a carving gouge and v-tool to make some lines to delineate the leg and tail, and even considered making the tail more three dimensional, but decided to keep it simpler for a first effort. The drawer pulls were another compromise. They were doweled and glued in place, originally I was going to go much more organic, with the top pull resembling a nose out of something like purpleheart, but nixed that in interest of time and simplicity. I cut it with a 1/4" Timberwolf blade, which led a fairly loose fit of the drawers due to kerf. I'll have to pick up a smaller blade before making another one so the finished piece is tighter. Also, I need to put more thought into the angle of the access cuts in the box to cut out the drawer(s), the entry cut was at a weird angle which made gluing it without a line a challenge. I'm mostly pleased with how it turned out, I think the recipient will like it. Learned a lot doing it and had a good time, when I wasn't scared of messing it up. I was sweating bullets when I took a 1/4" off the front of the box to make the drawers flush, and cutting the keyhole freehand was very nerve wracking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck M Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 I know I am probably a little late with a reponse but I am really happy with the way my 1st bandsaw box turned out using boiled linseed oil and spray on poly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texfire Posted April 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 I went with the shellac/stain/poly option. I think it's looking great. The mottled effect will be just right for the recipient, she likes older furniture and having it too new and shiny would have stuck out like a sore thumb. I ended up going with two full coats of the finish, and will do two or three coats of the poly. Turns out that antique cherry doesn't even look like cherry and is much darker than my test piece. Not sure why that is. I've identified a whole bunch of areas for improvement for next time, but I doubt she'll see them or care. The spots where the box was glued are visible if you know where to look, and the larger blade kerf led to looser tolerances than I was hoping for. But as long as I can keep from pointing out the "flaws" when I give it to her, she'll love it. And thankfully it won't be somewhere I see it regularly so the flaws annoy me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Turns out that antique cherry doesn't even look like cherry and is much darker than my test piece. Not sure why that is. Cherry darkens when exposed to light. Here's an example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texfire Posted April 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Yeah I knew it darkened, but this is much darker than that. I actually like how it turned out better, but am scratching my head. The test board was half as dark. Here's the finished box. One layer of Shellac, two of the antique cherry and two of the polyacrylic, buffed with the Norton 0000 steel wool substitute. That's shot without the flash, with a raking light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck M Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Looks great. My wife's family is full of cat lovers so something like this is on my to do list for gifts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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