OT: Wife is wanting to stain Birch cabinets. Help!

[twosticks]

Howdy, My wife has had our neighbor make some pantry cabinets for her. Getting him to finish up the job is like pulling teeth but that's another story. She bought good Birch wood for the cabinets. She is wanting to stain them a light Chestnut type color to match or come close to our kitchen cabinets.

 

She took one kitchen cabinet door and one pantry door to a local shop and the guy said that he could not match it so she's thinking of staining it herself. Her research has shown that staining Birch with a high gloss may be very tricky. She read that Birch is easy to get "gummy" as you stain it? She also read that you have to smooth sand the wood, apply one coat, let it set for 24 hours, sand that and then apply other coats and then let that set and so on. Is it something she might be able to do if she takes her time and follows directions? OR is it best left up to the pros and we should look around for another woodworking shop? Any tips or advice would be most welcome!! Thanks again! Grant

[Carminemw]

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Successfully_staining_birch.html

 

What you have to ask yourself is...do you feel lucky...well do ya punk? Excuse me I went off on a tangent. What you really have to ask yourself is it worth your time and expense. What may take you ten days might take a pro...12 hours...I found wehnever I do a project it's like a 1

[twosticks]

Thanks so much Carmine for the link and the advice!!

[PhilMyCrawtch]

i work in the Paint department of Home Depot. Birch is hard to stain, but its in no way as difficult as people make it out to be. First off you need to use a Pre-Stain conditioner id suggest Minwax, its 100% requird. It was pretty much made to use for birch because of how compressed the grains in birch are, the conditioner opens that up. Once you apply the conditioner let its stand for about 15-20 minutes and apply your stain as soon as possible ( common misconception people have with condition is it takes as long to dry as stain and varnishes do but nope its opposite READ THE CAN FOR CHRIST SAKE PEOPLE). Anyways once your conditioned use a a lint free rag (not a Pad or Brush) and stain in the direction of the grain. Because of the way birchs grains are let each stroke sit in a good 10 seconds before go back ( up and down patterns on birch will gel up quick even WITH conditioner). Anyways thats bout it, ive stained many a birch furniture and even made my own amp stand out of birch, came out great. Birch just takes extra care to stain, but its completely useable

 

ALSO: Gel stains work much better on Birch than traditional liquid does, however their color options are super limited

[PhilMyCrawtch]

 

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Successfully_staining_birch.html   What you have to ask yourself is...do you feel lucky...well do ya punk? Excuse me I went off on a tangent. What you really have to ask yourself is it worth your time and expense. What may take you ten days might take a pro...12 hours...I found wehnever I do a project it's like a 1

[lsits]

I don't envision any scenario where you don't get the blame if things go badly. My condolences.

[twosticks]

Thanks for all the help Phil! I think Carm was just using 12 hours as an example?

 

LOL Isits!

[1001gear]

UV poly might give a 12 hr turnaround. Also I don't know of any dark stain that wont benefit from that anti blotching stuff. You could use Danish oil as is.

White shades might wipe on and off no hassle. You might still want a top coat of poly though.

[devinw]

I don't envision any scenario where you don't get the blame if things go badly. My condolences.

 

LOL