I need a little help.

I have a piece of 8' x 4' cherry plywood. I'd like to use it as a table
and was hoping to stain it with a bottle of Mohawk Oxblood finishing
stain.

This stuff:

http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/cata...asp?ictNbr=178

The wood is right out of the lumber yard. Smooth enough for me.

Any tips on applying this stain? I tried it out on some scrap and I'm
having a hard time getting the color even. I get streaking using either
a brush or cloth. I'm finding it a little hard to control the darkness
as well - some spots get REALLY dark.

Any ideas? I'm new to all this so there may be steps that I need to go
through first...like a conditioner or something.

Also, I don't have access to a spray gun, so that's not an option for
me right now.

All I want is an even color with no brush marks/overlap. It'll be used
for a table top (the whole piece).

Thanks.

You have a very difficult if not impossible task. Cherry is prone to
blotch as some parts adsorb more stain than other parts. You can pre-stain
treat the sheet with a conditioner normally used with pine / maple. This
supposedly is adsorbed in those parts that would normally adsorb more than
their fair share of stain, hence a more even coat of stain. I haven't had
good luck with this technique.
Another method is to seal the wood first with something like Zinsser's
Seal Coat and then apply the stain and then top coat. I have used this with
several stains (I have no experience with the one you mentioned) to good
effect. But the colour is generally not as deep as you might like.
Gel stains are an option but for an 8X4 sheet I think they would dry too
fast.
Water dissolved aniline dyes sprayed on are the simplest and cheapest
method. Maybe you might want to find a refinisher to spray the sheet for
you. JG

googlerandy wrote:

I need a little help.

I have a piece of 8' x 4' cherry plywood. I'd like to use it as a table
and was hoping to stain it with a bottle of Mohawk Oxblood finishing
stain.

This stuff:

http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/cata...asp?ictNbr=178

The wood is right out of the lumber yard. Smooth enough for me.

Any tips on applying this stain? I tried it out on some scrap and I'm
having a hard time getting the color even. I get streaking using either
a brush or cloth. I'm finding it a little hard to control the darkness
as well - some spots get REALLY dark.

Any ideas? I'm new to all this so there may be steps that I need to go
through first...like a conditioner or something.

Also, I don't have access to a spray gun, so that's not an option for
me right now.

All I want is an even color with no brush marks/overlap. It'll be used
for a table top (the whole piece).

Thanks.

PreVal spray cans might be helpful in a pinch. Paint stores and MAYBE
box stores.

On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 05:31:54 -0400, JGS
wrote:

You have a very difficult if not impossible task. Cherry is prone to
blotch as some parts adsorb more stain than other parts. You can pre-stain
treat the sheet with a conditioner normally used with pine / maple. This
supposedly is adsorbed in those parts that would normally adsorb more than
their fair share of stain, hence a more even coat of stain. I haven't had
good luck with this technique.
Another method is to seal the wood first with something like Zinsser's
Seal Coat and then apply the stain and then top coat. I have used this with
several stains (I have no experience with the one you mentioned) to good
effect. But the colour is generally not as deep as you might like.
Gel stains are an option but for an 8X4 sheet I think they would dry too
fast.
Water dissolved aniline dyes sprayed on are the simplest and cheapest
method. Maybe you might want to find a refinisher to spray the sheet for
you. JG

googlerandy wrote:

I need a little help.

I have a piece of 8' x 4' cherry plywood. I'd like to use it as a table
and was hoping to stain it with a bottle of Mohawk Oxblood finishing
stain.

This stuff:

http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/cata...asp?ictNbr=178

The wood is right out of the lumber yard. Smooth enough for me.

Any tips on applying this stain? I tried it out on some scrap and I'm
having a hard time getting the color even. I get streaking using either
a brush or cloth. I'm finding it a little hard to control the darkness
as well - some spots get REALLY dark.

Any ideas? I'm new to all this so there may be steps that I need to go
through first...like a conditioner or something.

Also, I don't have access to a spray gun, so that's not an option for
me right now.

All I want is an even color with no brush marks/overlap. It'll be used
for a table top (the whole piece).

Thanks.