FLW Cabinet - #25 Sanding & Staining

Final sanding is next, everybody’s favorite part of a project – or maybe not.  To make it less of a chore I sand to a nearly final surface as the project goes along thus breaking it up into smaller bites.  Now before the staining can get started every surface needs to be checked for chalk or pencil marks, dents, smudges, dirt, etc.  Really anything that could detract from the final appearance or hinder the wood from taking the stain and finish.  The solid oak will get sanded to 220 grit and the plywood to 320 grit.  Any exposed end grain will go to 400 grit.  The cabinet is taken apart in pretty much in reverse order it was assembled: shelves, handle, top, door, sub-top, bottom then the front followed by the sides ending with the back.  No photos as the sanded pieces look just like the un-sanded ones plus photos of someone sanding is boring with a capital B.

Way back in post #2 I noted a pair of flaws, one knot and a bark inclusion that needed to be addressed later.  Well, later is now.  Also, while working on the shelves a crack appeared in the back side of one of the rear edging pieces.  Since the process is the same for repair the bark inclusion will be used as an example. Here is what it looks like once all the loose bits removed.

Along the way I have done some experimenting with different materials to use as fill.  After considering and testing both black and clear fill I settled on black.  The product that ended up testing the best is a black epoxy although it was a bit of a problem in finding a true black one.  Most of them cured out toward the gray side.  It took three applications of the epoxy to completely fill everything and here is what the cured second layer looks like.

To flatten the epoxy out a coarse sandpaper is used to knock off the high points roughly smoothing things out.  That’s followed by a scraper to gradually bring the filled areas down flat ending up sanding with 320 grit sandpaper. 

Once the flaws have been patched the finish sanding can be completed.  After the sanding is done all the pieces get the sawdust cleaned off them and stacked up in the storeroom as shown in the photo below.  The shop is then cleaned up really, really well.  That includes blowing off or vacuuming the sawdust from all the equipment and flat surfaces so I can have a clean minimally dusty area for finishing. 

Finishing starts by putting the oil-based stain on the back side or less visible sides of the pieces.  Once that dries overnight, they will be flipped and the show side stained.  There is not enough room to spread everything out in the shop so the first batch consists of everything except the door frames, front and back assemblies, handles and the faux tenons.  

Before applying the stain to the front/back frames I need to mask off the areas where the sides will join.  That’s because they will be glued together there and I need bare unfinished wood for the glue to work.  A strip of blue painter’s tape takes care of that.  To apply I use the marking gauge to draw a pencil line down the legs at the edge of the tape where the side will be attached.  The tape is then carefully applied right at the pencil line.

As the plywood back has already been stained, I needed to keep the stain off it while staining the legs.  A wide putty knife held tight at the leg/plywood joint protecting the already stained back while allowing me to apply stain to the leg.

Here what the stained back looks like with the tape in place.

As a progress shot this is what the bark inclusion flaw looks like stained.

Before applying the gel stain I decided to apply tape to the edges of the sides.   This is where the sides and the front/back will be glued and screwed in place.  I could have used the ½” wide blue tape but wanted a bit more width unfinished in case the taped areas did not match up perfectly.  The next wider tape I have is 24mm wide or just under 1” which is too wide as 5/8” is what is needed.  To get that the first step is to apply the 24mm tape holding it back from the edge about 1/16”.  This is what that looks like.

The next step is to carefully roll the tape over and onto the side as shown below.  Now it is ready to be cut to the appropriate width.

Cutting the tape is done with a marking gauge except this one does not have a pencil in it but a curved razor-sharp knife blade.  In this case the blade started out life as an X-acto knife blade that I reground into the curved shape then sharpened.  In case you are wondering the gauge is made out of scraps of Leopardwood left over from the Snare Drum Project.

Once cut the excess tape is peeled off and I am left with the edge covered except for a narrow band on both sides.

One item I forgot to mention is on removing the tape.  To help prevent pulling any of the thin oak veneer off the tape should be pulled up and away like this.  If you were to pull the tape down and the veneer on the top edge is loose the tape could pull a piece off.  I know the tape here is blue.  That’s because I ran out of the green tape and did not think about taking this photo until I had pulled all of it off.  Once that's done I can start the second phase of staining which is the application of the gel stain to all the surfaces. 

The sides are the last four pieces to be stained and I am glad it’s done.  Putting the two different stains on all sides of all the pieces took a couple of weeks.  It did not help that I could only get about a third of them spread out in the shop at once, could only do one side at a time and needed to let them set overnight before moving on. 

Next up – Final Preparation & Finishing