Richard and Will,

I'm mostly a "Home Center Amateur Woodworker" myself, so take my advice
accordingly...

However, we recently built a whole house full of cabinets, shelves, and end
tables using off-the-shelf #2 pine from the local home centers. I made the
carcasses out of 3/4" birch plywood, but the face frames, doors, and drawer
fronts are all pine. So, I guess I have a little experience with pine
now...

I don't know if this is the best way of doing things, but this is the
process I used:

1. Sand parts with 150 grit paper. If it's really rough I'll use 100 grit
first, but that's usually not needed for wood I get from the home centers.
Using the coarser paper seems to leave more sander swirls that take more
time to get out. So, I just stick with the 150 paper when I can.

2. Assemble the project. If I have to sand the corners after assembly for
some reason (glue in the corners maybe?), the best method I have found is
to fold a piece of sandpaper in half so I have a nice sharp edge. Then I
sand by hand along the corner, following the grain. It's slow and
difficult, but it works if I really need to do it.

3. Clean off all saw dust using a brush attachment on a shop vac. This
seems to work as well as a tack cloth for me, and does a better job of
cleaning out corners and small crevices.

4. Wipe on a coat of Minwax "Wood Preconditioner". This doesn't need to be
fancy. I just fold up a paper towel, dip it in the conditioner, and wipe it
on the wood. I haven't seen that the application technique makes any
difference with the conditioner. This makes the stain a bit lighter
colored, but it stains a LOT more evenly.

5. Apply a Minwax Gel stain (we used "Windsor Oak" color) using a "stain
applicator" pad. Essentially this is just a sponge with some kind of cloth
covering. I have found these work really well for applying the stain
evenly. And, being flexible and somewhat absorbant, you can really push
them into the corners to apply the stain and clean up the excess. By the
way, cheap latex gloves help prevent stained fingers...

6. Apply a coat of Olympic Satin Oil Based polyurethane. Let dry overnight.

7. Lightly sand finish with 220 grit paper. I use a sanding block to sand
evenly by hand. It mostly just knocks off the bumps and ridges and goes
really quick. But, it also roughens the 1st coat so the 2nd coat will
stick. Just don't overdo it and sand through the poly to the stain!

8. Shop-vac the dust again.

9. Apply a second coat of the poly. Let dry overnight.

If I'm looking for a really nice finish, I'll repeat steps 7-9 again. But,
for most of our purposes the two coats produced a look we wanted.

If I want a really nice finish, I'll use a foam "brush" to apply the poly.
It seems to leave a smoother surface than a standard brush. However, it's
hard to do the inside corners with a foam brush!

I'm sure most of the "real" woodworkers here would laugh at my techniques,
but we've been real happy with the results.


We also had nine interior pine doors that needed finishing. I was concerned
about staining all those nooks and crannies in the raised panel doors, and
didn't really have the time to go through my usual process. So I used this
technique for the pine doors:

1. Sand with 150 grit sanding "pad". These worked great for getting in all
the tight spots that would have been difficult otherwise.

2. Brush on a coat of Zinser Orange Shellac, right out of the can. Let dry
4 hours.

3. Sand with 180 grit sanding pad. Shop vac dust.

4. For the second coat, I thinned the orange shellac 50/50 with denatured
alcohol. I found this left the finish slightly lighter in color and the
door wasn't as glossy as an undiluted second coat.

I wouldn't necessarily choose the color of the shellac, but it was quick
and produced results we are happy with.

Anthony