Sawdust on the Floor

I have delayed, procrastinated and even pontificated about staining the new bathroom vanity its green/gray color for about as long as humanly possible, so having no other plausible excuses today I went back into the shop and got busy working on it.  With other projects I have built, I have always looked forward to the finish portion of the project.  That’s wasn’t the case this time.  If you’re wondering why the different attitude, please allow me to explain.  I have built numerous woodworking projects over the past 30 plus years.  Most of these projects were finished with traditional colored oil based stains, such as oak, cherry, pine colors. A smaller proportion of the projects were designed and built as painted projects, and for the most part these turned out OK.  As a woodworker I have some angst against painting wood, but that is another story for another time. But this project is the first one that I stained to a color.  And the truth is that the idea somewhat freaked me out. 

Over the past couple of weeks I have been building a new vanity for our bathroom rework.  We (actually my wife) found a design in an This Old House magazine article that we both agreed would look great in our upstairs bathroom.  In the article the color of the vanity, wall mounted mirror and the accompanying trim all were stained a Green/Gray color.  This color has been the subject of a lot of discussion in our home. Not the actual color, we both liked it, but how to get our vanity to look the same as that in the picture was the issue. We have gone through several different options regarding which method to use and have finally found the one that we figured would work. 

During an earlier post I indicated that we had settled on an exterior deck stain for the vanity. However, that stain contained a fungicide. The expert at the paint store recommended against using it for an interior project. His concern was that the fungicide would cause unpleasant odors, or worse create a health issue for anyone with a sensitivities.  Even though this stain was the best color match, we decided to heed his advice and went looking for  other options. That option took the form of a water based custom tinted stain from one of the DIY super stores. 

This is the point that my hesitation begins.  This stain was a somewhat new formulation for me.  To begin with it is a water based product,  I normally use oil based stains.  The second change was the color, “Green” or ” Athena”, the name the manufacturer assigned to it.  My limited exposure to water based products hasn’t been overwhelmingly positive. I have used water based polyurethanes in the past, and found that the product tended to cause the grain in the wood to raise more so then oil based products. Which would lead to more sanding between finish coats, something I really don’t want to do more of.  And even though Kermit the Frog from Sesame Street claims that Green is beautiful, I wasn’t sure that green, would be that beautiful on our vanity. 

Despite all of the apprehension, I began applying the stain today.  First thing I noted was how quickly it dried on the surface of the wood.  With an oil based stain, I normally would apply the stain to the surface, let it sit for several minutes then wipe off any excess stain that had not soaked into the wood.  This water based stain, which actually went on the wood looking much like paint, soaked into the surface very quickly. In fact when I went to wipe off the excess, I found very little setting stain sitting on the surface.  To be honest I soon found out that wiping the stain really wasn’t necessary.  When I let the stain dry, without me fussing with it, it dried to a semi transparent finish.  Which was ideal, because we wanted the grain of the red oak to show through the finish, yet have an overall greenish tint.  If we hadn’t been looking for the grain to show, we would have simply painted the entire vanity.   In the sprite of total honesty, the areas where I  had wiped off the stain I had to go back over the area and touch it up later. 

After letting the vanity sit untouched for several hours the finish settled out and is exactly what we were looking for. Well somewhat, looking at the attached picture of the vanity stained, I see spots that may need a little more attention. But just in case its still not 100% dry, I think I will let the entire project dry another 24 hours before I do anything.  But I think we are getting there, or at least I hope so. 

This entire project has been a learning experience for me, from adding the bead detail to the doors, drawer faces and side panel, to the new hardware for the drawers and door hinges  and finally the “Green” tinted stain. But I am not complaining, that’s one of the better part of woodworking, learning new things.  Having the mirror and the rest of the trim yet to make, plus the tile work on the walls and around the bathtub, makes me wonder what else is in store for me on this project.  I’m sure it will be interesting.