Sgt Grit Marine Forums

I bought a used Broyhill entertainment center from eBay local. Although I got outbid on its companion armoire (damn that other buyer to heck and back), I'm thrilled to have this one. It came with a light satin varnish only, it had an unstained light wood finish (too Scandinavian and modern for my taste). I have traditional and transitional pieces in beautiful dark red mahgany stain, satin finish. I've painted and stained furniture before. Thought I could handle the fairly simple task of staining the EC to match.

 Yeah, right.

Between the cat, the older Marine's poodle, the same Marine's cigarette ashes and the general dustiness of the garage, the beveled bottom edge on this piece is practically TEXTURED. Plus there's a spot where I missed a drip, so it's dried and raised. Add to all this the fact that I have about six coats of stain on the damn thing, just to get it the right shade...you'd think that a power sander, hours of hand sanding, a coat of wood conditioner AND MAHOGANY STAIN, FER PETE'S SAKE, would make it DARK without adding another half inch in colored stain alone.

What can I do to avoid having to use so many coats in the future? Can I get hold of a power sprayer and do it like I imagine furniture companies do? Or are there specific types of stains/brushes/techniques to make doing large pieces easier to get a more professional-looking finish? I'm afraid this one is going to end up looking like the local preschool class had at it.

Actually, Dear Gawd in Heaven, I'll probably never do this again. It's GOT to be worth paying someone out the wazzoo to do it for me.

Lori

Lori, if you can actually see, or worse yet, feel, the "build-up", then you may have used the wrong product.  I'm guessing you used what's referred to as a "colored varnish", or combination varnish-stain.  That's "supposed" to make one job out of 2, but it rarely works well.

Read the label on the product, and notify me.  I'll try and "walk you through it".

Velcro:

Lori, if you can actually see, or worse yet, feel, the "build-up", then you may have used the wrong product.  I'm guessing you used what's referred to as a "colored varnish", or combination varnish-stain.  That's "supposed" to make one job out of 2, but it rarely works well.

Read the label on the product, and notify me.  I'll try and "walk you through it".

 Bill, are you familiar with these things?

Seriously, Bill, great to see you down here. There are a lot of people, myself included, that can benefit from your experience. You are the Master!

Not much activity down here, Tom, so I don't spend much time here.

The colored varnishes are similar to those combination cleaner/waxes for cars. They do a little of each, but neither is complete.