I bought the wood on 8/04 so I guess this took me 19 days to build.

African Mahogany stained with General Finishes Georgian Cherry gel stain
with 3 coats of Old master gel varnish.


Except for 4 buttons to cover screws.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb11211/14816038717/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb112...n/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb112...n/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb112...n/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb112...n/photostream/

The ugly side..

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb112...n/photostream/

On Friday, August 22, 2014 4:06:31 PM UTC-5, Leon wrote:
I bought the wood on 8/04 so I guess this took me 19 days to build.

African Mahogany stained with General Finishes Georgian Cherry gel stain

with 3 coats of Old master gel varnish.

All I can say Leon is... WOW. Man did that come together nicely! Yet another excellent piece from you.

I have to say, that between you and Karl, I am starting to feel like a damn siding installer. You two do more woodwork in a couple of months than I do in a year!

All of it good stuff, too. I really enjoy your projects, and it is a real treat for me to see what you guys are up to, and the superior level of craftsmanship you put into all of your work. Thanks to both of you for taking the time to post your work in progress pics along with the end results.

What is sad for the folks that read this group is they can't appreciate the fact that both of you turn our projects and pieces that look even better in person. I have to say at Karl's place though, I do get distracted by the real deal gumbo... :^) but I look at that as an added perk!

Lovely headboard. That would be a centerpiece in any bedroom.

Robert

On 8/23/2014 12:47 AM, wrote:
On Friday, August 22, 2014 4:06:31 PM UTC-5, Leon wrote:
I bought the wood on 8/04 so I guess this took me 19 days to build.

African Mahogany stained with General Finishes Georgian Cherry gel stain

with 3 coats of Old master gel varnish.

All I can say Leon is... WOW. Man did that come together nicely! Yet another excellent piece from you.

I have to say, that between you and Karl, I am starting to feel like a damn siding installer. You two do more woodwork in a couple of months than I do in a year!

All of it good stuff, too. I really enjoy your projects, and it is a real treat for me to see what you guys are up to, and the superior level of craftsmanship you put into all of your work. Thanks to both of you for taking the time to post your work in progress pics along with the end results.

What is sad for the folks that read this group is they can't appreciate the fact that both of you turn our projects and pieces that look even better in person. I have to say at Karl's place though, I do get distracted by the real deal gumbo... :^) but I look at that as an added perk!

Lovely headboard. That would be a centerpiece in any bedroom.

Robert




Thank you Robert. And I'll say again, the fact that you see our work up
close and personally and still make these generous comments is a plus.
I am sure that Karl appreciates your comments as much as I do.

Yeah , he cheats with the gumbo card. ;!)

As Robert, I like the work and your (and Karl's) assortment of projects. Great job.

And I see the posts' tops aren't so bare, after all. Nice little curved touch, capping the tops. Lends itself, well, to the center piece.

Sonny

On 8/23/2014 7:40 AM, Sonny wrote:
As Robert, I like the work and your (and Karl's) assortment of projects. Great job.

And I see the posts' tops aren't so bare, after all. Nice little curved touch, capping the tops. Lends itself, well, to the center piece.

Sonny



Thank you Sonny!

On 8/22/2014 5:06 PM, Leon wrote:

African Mahogany stained with General Finishes Georgian Cherry gel stain
with 3 coats of Old master gel varnish.

Could you flesh out the finishing a little? I've seen your video snippet
of how you apply gel stain. The secret there seems to be "do it
*quick*", covering a small area then immediately wiping off, and wiping
off again with a third piece of paper towel. Is it the same procedure
with the gel varnish? The finial looks a little glossier than the rest
in the photos. Is that just lighting, or greater "buffing" on the lathe?

I'm also curious to know how you shaped the centerpiece. I'm imagining a
really large forstner bit for the circular holes, then cutting the
straight lines. Is that close?


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On 8/27/2014 9:41 AM, Greg Guarino wrote:
On 8/22/2014 5:06 PM, Leon wrote:

African Mahogany stained with General Finishes Georgian Cherry gel stain
with 3 coats of Old master gel varnish.

Could you flesh out the finishing a little? I've seen your video snippet
of how you apply gel stain. The secret there seems to be "do it
*quick*", covering a small area then immediately wiping off, and wiping
off again with a third piece of paper towel. Is it the same procedure
with the gel varnish? The finial looks a little glossier than the rest
in the photos. Is that just lighting, or greater "buffing" on the lathe?

With the gel stain I applied to about the same 1~2 sq.ft. area before
wiping off. I did all of the edges first and proceeded to the faces.
With the gel stain you only have to apply and then immediately wipe off
and in the same motion wipe off the excess, wipe until there overlay is
gone. You cant wipe too much but you can wipe too little. The second
buffing is not necessary as is with the gel varnish.
If yu get to a thick dry spot just apply a bit more stain and rub out
immediately. The glob will melt down quickly. Over lap marks are
nonexistent, it does not get darker unless you don't rub off the excess
quickly and that is not permanent.

I let this dry thoroughly over night before varnishing.

Pretty much the same procedure as the gel varnish except for the
second/last wipe down/buff.


The finial is a bit glossier as I stained, varnished, and buffed the
piece with the lathe spinning. It being round it catches the light more
easily.


I'm also curious to know how you shaped the centerpiece. I'm imagining a
really large forstner bit for the circular holes, then cutting the
straight lines. Is that close?

The curves in the center piece were cut out with my jig saw. ;~)
I printed out a full scale pattern, taped the pages together, and used a
glue stick to glue the pattern down to the wood blank. I only applied
the glue stick to the backside of the lines. I cut out the curves to
within about 1/8" of the line and then used my oscillating spindle
sander to remove material up to the line on the pattern.

I cut all the straight and angled lines with my track saw.





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On 8/27/2014 4:12 PM, Leon wrote:

With the gel stain I applied to about the same 1~2 sq.ft. area before
wiping off. I did all of the edges first and proceeded to the faces.
With the gel stain you only have to apply and then immediately wipe off
and in the same motion wipe off the excess, wipe until there overlay is
gone. You cant wipe too much but you can wipe too little. The second
buffing is not necessary as is with the gel varnish.
If yu get to a thick dry spot just apply a bit more stain and rub out
immediately. The glob will melt down quickly. Over lap marks are
nonexistent, it does not get darker unless you don't rub off the excess
quickly and that is not permanent.

I let this dry thoroughly over night before varnishing.

Pretty much the same procedure as the gel varnish except for the
second/last wipe down/buff.

Thanks. Allowing for the ingenuity of fools, would you call this method
(almost) foolproof? It seems simple enough. What about dust nibs? Since
you wipe off the excess with each step, are these less of a problem? Do
you do any sanding/steel wooling between coats? Do you do any buffing
after the last coat is dry?

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On 8/27/2014 8:19 PM, Greg Guarino wrote:
On 8/27/2014 4:12 PM, Leon wrote:

With the gel stain I applied to about the same 1~2 sq.ft. area before
wiping off. I did all of the edges first and proceeded to the faces.
With the gel stain you only have to apply and then immediately wipe off
and in the same motion wipe off the excess, wipe until there overlay is
gone. You cant wipe too much but you can wipe too little. The second
buffing is not necessary as is with the gel varnish.
If yu get to a thick dry spot just apply a bit more stain and rub out
immediately. The glob will melt down quickly. Over lap marks are
nonexistent, it does not get darker unless you don't rub off the excess
quickly and that is not permanent.

I let this dry thoroughly over night before varnishing.

Pretty much the same procedure as the gel varnish except for the
second/last wipe down/buff.

Thanks. Allowing for the ingenuity of fools, would you call this method
(almost) foolproof? It seems simple enough. What about dust nibs? Since
you wipe off the excess with each step, are these less of a problem? Do
you do any sanding/steel wooling between coats? Do you do any buffing
after the last coat is dry?

I forgot to mention with gel stains and varnishes dust is really not an
issue. It is not unusual for sawdust to blow on a freshly applied and
buffed surface, just blow it off. I even apply the gel stain or varnish
to one side of a panel and flip it over and to the other immediately. I
don't worry about dust at all.

It is pretty much fool proof providing you wipe the applied stain or
varnish "immediately". It starts setting up pretty quickly and your
rags will stick to the surface if you don't wipe off the excess and buff
with a second clean rag immediately.

No sanding between coats. If you end up with any dust nibs you simply
let the last coat surface cure for a few days and gently rub them out
with a piece of printer paper or grocery store bag paper wrapped around
a block of wood. That will normally give yo a baby butt smooth surface.

Once you learn to apply the gel stains and varnishes you may never use
anything else. I switched about 25 years ago and seldom use anything else.

One odd thing about gels varnishes however, I have only seen them in
satin sheen's. If you want gloss you need to go with a liquid gloss
varnish.

Remember, read the instructions. With Old Masters gel varnish, wipe on
a 1~2 sq.ft. area quickly and immediately wipe off the excess, then
immediately with a clean rag buff out the surface. Iuse Scott's blue
paper shop towels for every step. You will find yourself rebuffing
previously covered areas at the overlap locations. If you feel any drag
what so ever when wiping off excess or buffing you are not starting
those steps soon enough after applying the varnish. I can't stress
"immediately" enough. If you saw my video you see that I don't wait for
any of the steps. You will need a minimum of 2~3 coats of varnish and
or until you get a consistent sheen.











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