Starting on the doors

The wardrobe's sides, false top, false bottom and back are attached.  I am now starting on the doors.  I was going to use European hinges, but now unsure.  I do not want the screws to attach to the side panels.  I may have to use regular hinges, and if I do that will be another decision the owners will need to make.  I would recommend brass hinges.  Also a decision will need to be made about door handles.  Here are some different perspectives of the piece.  A good site to use is rockler.com.

I made a mistake on one of the sides, I made an exact copy of the side and it was to be a mirror image.  Not sure how I did that, but that set me back a couple of weeks.  Not much new wood, just rework.

The color

Raw Quartersawn White Oak, planed

Stained with Minwax Mix

Now I am applying the color to this piece.  I sanded the panels using 100 grit, 120 grit, 150 grit, 180 grit and 220 grit in sequence.  The process I am using is glazing.  The people who will own this piece wanted me to eliminate all the yellow I could from the wood, so this is the only technique I know to do that.  After sanding, I wiped on a mix of Minwax stains (three colors) to try to reduce the yellows in the brown stain.  Then I applied a 1/2# mixture of shellac with a brush.  Next, I applied a glaze over the shellac, using wiping.  After 24 hours I will apply 3 coats of polyurethane by wiping.  Between each step I will rough the wood with a 320 grit sandpaper.  After a couple of weeks I will wax the piece with a clear wax.  You can click on each picture to enlarge it.

Stained with Minwax Mixed

Shellac over Minwax Mix

Glazed



Glazed



Glazed



Glazed

Glazed

Deck Pieces

To entertain my very few followers here are a couple of piece I made earlier.  The wood is cypress. Cypress will turn dark if untreated.  It is like all other light woods, it turns darker with time.  Light woods turn darker and dark woods turn lighter is the old saying about woods.  That is why I am not a fan of staining wood, it will finally turn a wonderful color with all the grains shown. Both of these piece are not stained.  They are covered with a Sikken sealer, which is made in Germany.  Above the trunk is a piece I made many years ago of redwood for a planter box, again unstained.  I have not put a preservative on that redwood for about 10-12 years.  It stands up well outside.  Now, redwood is cost prohibitive to buy.

The Wardrobe

 

 I am further along and still waiting on stain color.  If the nameless owners of this piece would subscribe to my blog, it is very easy, they would see the progress that is being made.  I have clamped the sides to the back. There is also a picture of the grain of the quartersawn white oak, that may be covered by the stain color, if a dark stain is chosen.  And, the grain is so pretty.