I am currently putting together a sideboard that is to be a prop for an
upcoming community theater production. Of course I am WAY behind
schedule and have no budget for this.

The no-budget had me build it out of pine - I was able to get some #2
pine at the BORG for pretty cheap and combined with some 1/2" plywood I
already had laying around I have the carcass pretty much done. I have
to make a couple of doors and finish attaching the trim molding. This
is supposed to be "junked up" as the director said so I created a number
of moldings on the router table and need to cut/miter them and attach
with some glue and "brads until the glue sets".

Since this is for a play it won't have any audience members closer than
about 10-12 feet, and most audience members considerably farther away
than that. I need to finish this and do so in a hurry. Durability is
NOT a concern. Close up looks are NOT a concern.

My plan was to use some Minwax wood conditioner that I have - it seems
to help out with blotchy stain coverage, and then some "walnut" stain,
followed by some sort of top coat.

Because time is tight, and I have a lot of routed beads, moldings, ect I
was thinking of spraying the finishes on. I have a air-sprayer and have
had pretty good success using it in the past to spray paint metal items
so I think I have the technique of using it down - just have never tried
it on woodworking projects. Does applying the conditioner, or stain
work well with one of these? Any hints or suggestions? What about a
quick to apply/dry clear finish?

Thanks,
Dan

Avoid the clear finishes. Go with stain only or a flat paint. Use
darker shades unless the director wants light wood. Bright stage
lights + a gloss finish = bad news.

Can't help with all your questions, but I would say that in my
experience using wood conditioner on pine really helps even out the
stain; even if time is tight, i wouldn't skip that step. I have no
experience spraying, though.

Yes you can spray the Minwax conditioner and stain. Make SURE to pour
them through a sieve/strainer or cheese cloth as you put them in the
bottle, especially the stain.

If you are looking for "junked up" you could likely skip the
conditioner step. Also, I think you can place the conditioner and stain
just as fast with a big soft paint brush and a bucket.

Any lacquer will be quick dry. The Borg's have seemed to shy away from
carrying real spraying lacquer anymore so you could spray Deft right
from the can. It says "not for spraying" but the reality is they are
likely saying that beacuse of the environmental issue, rather than an
application problem. It sprays fine for me in a pinch. They Deft needs
to be stirred well and especially the semi-gloss or satin. They should
also be sieved because they have "flatteners" and coloring (white
paint) added in and they really settle out and can be a little grainy.

I sprayed about 50 seperate pieces (with deft) this last weekend, 30-45
minutes between coats and I was lightly sanding with 600 before the
second coat.

On 2 Mar 2005 14:04:16 -0800, "FriscoSoxFan" wrote:

Avoid the clear finishes. Go with stain only or a flat paint. Use
darker shades unless the director wants light wood. Bright stage
lights + a gloss finish = bad news.


Been there, done that. :-)

Dry brush flat latex.

Bill Waller
New Eagle, PA

SonomaProducts.com wrote:
Yes you can spray the Minwax conditioner and stain. Make SURE to pour
them through a sieve/strainer or cheese cloth as you put them in the
bottle, especially the stain.

If you are looking for "junked up" you could likely skip the
conditioner step. Also, I think you can place the conditioner and stain
just as fast with a big soft paint brush and a bucket.

Any lacquer will be quick dry. The Borg's have seemed to shy away from
carrying real spraying lacquer anymore so you could spray Deft right
from the can. It says "not for spraying" but the reality is they are
likely saying that beacuse of the environmental issue, rather than an
application problem. It sprays fine for me in a pinch. They Deft needs
to be stirred well and especially the semi-gloss or satin. They should
also be sieved because they have "flatteners" and coloring (white
paint) added in and they really settle out and can be a little grainy.

I sprayed about 50 seperate pieces (with deft) this last weekend, 30-45
minutes between coats and I was lightly sanding with 600 before the
second coat.



Well - I might be able to brush it just as fast - but I doubt it. I
tend to over apply it and then spend a lot of time catching drips -
especially because I used the bead bit on darn near every vertical
corner on this piece.

I was thinking of getting some Deft - I have brushed and used the spray
cans of it in the long ago past. 4-H projects for the fair never seemed
to get finished until the day before and judges didn't seem to have a
sense of humor about getting half-dry finish on their fingers. Deft was
EXCELLENT for this - it even dried pretty quick on humid August days.

I browsed Minwax's site a little and they don't list spraying as an
official method anywhere, but their forums talk about it a number of places.

After being at their site I have started thinking about the "PolyShade"
stuff - I have always HATED how that looked as it covered up the wood to
much for me - but for this project it might work ok. Any thoughts on that?

--Dan

Avoid the clear finishes. Go with stain only or a flat paint. Use
darker shades unless the director wants light wood. Bright stage
lights + a gloss finish = bad news.



Been there, done that. :-)

Dry brush flat latex.



Good point - I knew that - but in my haste had forgotten about it.

Conditioner, stain, wipe on poly. (whether sprayed or wiped)

The wipe-on dries almost as fast as you can apply. I can usually handle
the piece where it was first applied by the time I get to the last
portion of the item.

Satin finish should prevent too much glare, and if there is glare - a
quick rub with steel wool.

That's what I do when I want to use a new tool table within an hour of
completing the assembly.

Dan Oelke wrote:
SonomaProducts.com wrote:


Well - I might be able to brush it just as fast - but I doubt it. I
tend to over apply it and then spend a lot of time catching drips -
especially because I used the bead bit on darn near every vertical
corner on this piece.

I was thinking of getting some Deft - I have brushed and used the spray
cans of it in the long ago past. 4-H projects for the fair never seemed
to get finished until the day before and judges didn't seem to have a
sense of humor about getting half-dry finish on their fingers. Deft was
EXCELLENT for this - it even dried pretty quick on humid August days.

I browsed Minwax's site a little and they don't list spraying as an
official method anywhere, but their forums talk about it a number of
places.

After being at their site I have started thinking about the "PolyShade"
stuff - I have always HATED how that looked as it covered up the wood to
much for me - but for this project it might work ok. Any thoughts on that?

--Dan

--
Will
Occasional Techno-geek

"Dan Oelke" wrote in message
...

Since this is for a play it won't have any audience members closer than
about 10-12 feet, and most audience members considerably farther away than
that. I need to finish this and do so in a hurry. Durability is NOT a
concern. Close up looks are NOT a concern.

My plan was to use some Minwax wood conditioner that I have - it seems to
help out with blotchy stain coverage, and then some "walnut" stain,
followed by some sort of top coat.


This is a one time use thing? Get a can of cheap stain, a foam brush and
put the stain on. Wipe the excess after 15 minutes and you are done; ready
to be used in an hour. No top coat needed. No conditioner needed. Down
side is that it may need a touch up in ten years or so.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"Dan Oelke" wrote in message
...

Since this is for a play it won't have any audience members closer
than about 10-12 feet, and most audience members considerably
farther away than that. I need to finish this and do so in a
hurry. Durability is NOT a concern. Close up looks are NOT a
concern.

My plan was to use some Minwax wood conditioner that I have - it
seems to help out with blotchy stain coverage, and then some
"walnut" stain, followed by some sort of top coat.


This is a one time use thing? Get a can of cheap stain, a foam
brush and put the stain on. Wipe the excess after 15 minutes and
you are done; ready to be used in an hour. No top coat needed. No
conditioner needed. Down side is that it may need a touch up in ten
years or so. --
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

And if someone wants a pale blue something-or-other for the next production
you can use acrylic paint out of the can right over the stain.

Josie

On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 15:58:04 -0600, Dan Oelke wrote:


I am currently putting together a sideboard that is to be a prop for an
upcoming community theater production. Of course I am WAY behind
schedule and have no budget for this.

The no-budget had me build it out of pine - I was able to get some #2
pine at the BORG for pretty cheap and combined with some 1/2" plywood I
already had laying around I have the carcass pretty much done. I have
to make a couple of doors and finish attaching the trim molding. This
is supposed to be "junked up" as the director said so I created a number
of moldings on the router table and need to cut/miter them and attach
with some glue and "brads until the glue sets".

Since this is for a play it won't have any audience members closer than
about 10-12 feet, and most audience members considerably farther away
than that. I need to finish this and do so in a hurry. Durability is
NOT a concern. Close up looks are NOT a concern.

My plan was to use some Minwax wood conditioner that I have - it seems
to help out with blotchy stain coverage, and then some "walnut" stain,
followed by some sort of top coat.

Because time is tight, and I have a lot of routed beads, moldings, ect I
was thinking of spraying the finishes on. I have a air-sprayer and have
had pretty good success using it in the past to spray paint metal items
so I think I have the technique of using it down - just have never tried
it on woodworking projects. Does applying the conditioner, or stain
work well with one of these? Any hints or suggestions? What about a
quick to apply/dry clear finish?

Thanks,
Dan


consider paint rather than stain. between the plywood and the pine you
have a piece that will be difficult to get a consistent finish on with
stain.

first bang the piece up a bit. use a wire brush to make the grain
stand up a bit. whack it a few times with a hammer through a sack of
gravel. pay special attention to edges and corners. then prime it and
paint it a color a bit darker than what you want it to end up looking
like. let that dry and wipe it down with a color a bit lighter than
what you want it to end up looking like, thinned down and rubbed off
with a rag before it dries.

if the theater has some set painters with experience, see if you can
get them to help.

The brushing I was speaking of was just for the conditionaer and stain.
In both cases I always apply way too much and wipe it down a few
minutes later, so "drips" aren't a problem. The only real problem is
that stain can wick back out of joints (later when youy aren't
looking). and cause dark patches around these areas. That's why I
prefer a brush so I can slosh it on the big areas and use a nearly dry
brush in the areas I'm worried about stain hiding in the cracks. Can't
do that so easy with spraying.

The Polyshades stuff works fine. Production furniture shops use this
technique (not this product) quite a bit. In fact some classic finishes
use a toned film finish, think amber shellac, etc. The only problem
with this is it's pretty hard to get an even look, overlaps show a lot,
but it would probably be OK for this project to combine the color and
film in one step. Also Polyshades is impossible to repair.

A gel stain works reasonably well on pine, although staining pine a
dark color generally gives rather poor results. A flat paint, 2
coats, is fast, easy, and cheap.

On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 15:58:04 -0600, Dan Oelke wrote:


I am currently putting together a sideboard that is to be a prop for an
upcoming community theater production. Of course I am WAY behind
schedule and have no budget for this.

The no-budget had me build it out of pine - I was able to get some #2
pine at the BORG for pretty cheap and combined with some 1/2" plywood I
already had laying around I have the carcass pretty much done. I have
to make a couple of doors and finish attaching the trim molding. This
is supposed to be "junked up" as the director said so I created a number
of moldings on the router table and need to cut/miter them and attach
with some glue and "brads until the glue sets".

Since this is for a play it won't have any audience members closer than
about 10-12 feet, and most audience members considerably farther away
than that. I need to finish this and do so in a hurry. Durability is
NOT a concern. Close up looks are NOT a concern.

My plan was to use some Minwax wood conditioner that I have - it seems
to help out with blotchy stain coverage, and then some "walnut" stain,
followed by some sort of top coat.

Because time is tight, and I have a lot of routed beads, moldings, ect I
was thinking of spraying the finishes on. I have a air-sprayer and have
had pretty good success using it in the past to spray paint metal items
so I think I have the technique of using it down - just have never tried
it on woodworking projects. Does applying the conditioner, or stain
work well with one of these? Any hints or suggestions? What about a
quick to apply/dry clear finish?

Thanks,
Dan