Plywood might be a bit funny about taking stain, I guess it's on account of
the glue, I've had some pieces where the top ply was really soaked in it.
This will really gum up the sandpaper. Wipe it with thinner good, but watch
for seperations along the edges.

On account of the thinness of the plies and the glue, just one coat of stain
may not be enough, it can soak clear through. Maybe wipe on lightly and
repeatedly until a light coat stays on the surface five - ten minutes. Rub
the stain repeatedly over the first hour, I get small drops resurfacing.
Let dry at least 8 more hours, longer if your next sanding gets gummed up.
--

Dale Benjamin
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"Chris" wrote in message
om...
This is my first ww project ever. I'm building a builtin-desk with
some prefinished honey oak base cabinets. So far I've done pretty
well but the finishing part is confusing me to no end. I read John
Paquay's "Finishing Oak And Other 'Open-Grained' Woods", Bob Flexner's
book on "Understanding Wood Finishing" and many threads in this NG and
they have helped me greatly. Now, I'm kind of overwhelmed. I've got
two ideas so far:

Sand the ply with 220 grit.
Apply Minwax Gel Stain with a slight honey tint.
Sand with 400 grit?
Apply Minwax Fast-Drying Polyurethane
Sand with 400 grit?
Apply Minwax Fast-Drying Polyurethane

Second:

Sand with 220 grit and then 320 grit.
Apply 50/50 mix of Sherwin-Williams Sher-Wood Natural Filler\Minwax
Oil-based Wood Finish (per Mr. Paquay's instructions).
Don't sand.
Apply thinned coat of the topcoat as a sealer (not sure what type and
how to thin it).
Don't sand.
Apply full strength topcoat (not sure what)
Sand carefully with 320+
Repeat the full strength topcoats and 320+ sanding.

I do plan on testing these with scrap but some clarification would
really help.

Thanks in advance.

Chris