Gary wrote:

For the past what seems like months I have been working on a small
cabinet/nightstand for SWMBO. You know how it goes, " To build YOUR
cabinet, I'll need those raised panel bits and that dovetail jig and that
router and spindle sander,..." LOL

I am a newbie and have been experimenting with several features in this
cabinet; raised panel doors, hand cut-dovetail corners and basis scrollwork
on the legs/feet. I have been using hard maple and maple plywood for the
carcus. For a newbie, I have been quite pleased with my work.

Well before I assemble the cabinet, I decided I should stain the parts. I
wanted to match our Pennsylvania House cherry bedroom furniture which is a
darkish brown color. Reading all about staining maple to look like cherry
here on the rec and the web, I bought aniline dyes; Antique Cherry Red and
Deep something Brown. I mixed up the Cherry Red and tested on some scrap.
Way too red. So I added just a dash of the brown. Like a chemical
reaction, the dye instantly turned a deep dark sh-- brown. I tried it on
scrap and decided that it wasn't too far from the bedroom furniture color
and decided to use it.

And so, I started slapping the stuff on my project pieces. I used a 4 inch
sponge brush to apply it. Well, it has made the biggest mess. Everywhere
the brush lapped shows a dark streak. It is impossible to get the color to
even out. There are several dark botches where the maple/plywood soaked the
dye right up and in other areas the wood hardly took up any dyes. You can
hardly see my beautiful hand cut dovetails. There is a white line on each
plywood piece where the plys butt against each other. The door panels look
like walnut stained yellow pine.

I an so disappointed it this mess. I had a really nice cabinet in the works
that I was proud of and now its a ****ty brown mess. I have no idea of how
to remedy this mess other than paint it white and stick it in my garage.

Gary



next time, spray either alcohol or water based dye stain on maple using
HVLP equipment. Use many "dry" passes to get blotch-free results. Just
slathering it on with a brush is going to give you the ****-poor results
you reported here...

another tip: practice any new finishing technique or new-to-you material
on plenty of representative scrap material; not just on a couple square
inches of scrap.


Dave