Finishing a Round Front Walnut Corner Cabinet
#6
Here's a link to the build.                

This is a photo of the drawer from an existing piece of furniture I'm matching:

[Image: L8AGipbL9M164x6kqmKu56bvqFlZUz_Zb4-oEdIF...38-h628-no]

It has different colors depending upon the light and the angle you look at it from.  But you see in the background is yellow and after many specimens I concluded the only way to replicate the look was to start with a yellow background.  I ended up using the same Transtint Yellow dye concentration that I used for the arched French door project, and sprayed everything with a coat at 2.7% concentration.


[Image: -PHhBjuAxYTbJw6YxX8RCmnAST4JXmf6wm8IrxBF...38-h628-no]

Making those specimens also proved that to keep the yellow from getting completely smothered by the dye/stain to follow it had to be somewhat protected.  I did that by spraying a coat of Sealcoat shellac next.

[Image: BWsT1ey5_TyrF2SNC4cHuaI8Vtc_UoOBdl5UQvbO...38-h628-no]

The shellac moves the color towards the red end, except on the poplar plywood fixed shelf.  Next, I applied a very custom dye stain that I made from two SW's BAC Wiping Stain flavors, plus I added some Transtint Bright Red and Black dyes to it.  The BAC Wiping Stains are solvent based, and Transtint is not directly soluble in it, but if you first add the Transtint to a little lacquer thinner, that is miscible in the BAC stain.  Adding the lacquer thinner had another benefit, I think; it allowed the stain to penetrate through the shellac or at least get a really good grip.  You apply the dye stain like most others; I used a rag, and then wiped it off really well after about a minute with blue shop towels.  I can't say enough about how nice the BAC dye stain is to work with.  You can custom blend any color, or SW will do it for you, a little goes a very long ways, it has amazing color in one application, and it dries in an hour.  I let it dry a couple of hours and then sprayed a sealer coat of Sealcoat shellac, to give me this:

[Image: 1O0Ly0vsJWE8vIe0xL9LW7eov9IpbauO3PZ-MfPI...38-h628-no]

At this point the color was too brown, which I had anticipated with the specimens I had made, and to move it closer to the reds in the drawer front I used a toner coat of my EnduroVar satin topcoat with Transtint Brown Mahogany and Reddish Brown added to it.  I sprayed the bottom of the shelf, let that dry, and compared it to the drawer front outside.  It was really close so I sprayed everything.  When that was dry I brushed on a second coat to a small area of the shelf bottom and again compared it with the drawer front.  OK, that was too red, so I decided to spray the next coat with no toners and see where I was.  Where I was was here:

[Image: BgNIBB66tjNRWgS3kZPvKKZ6_VZUJBUyo3PVg_1K...38-h628-no]

It looked so close to the drawer that I called it good.  I let everything cure overnight and this morning I put the cabinet together.  Here's what it looks like:

[Image: yaazL1Z3jiYT5v7HQ2JE4JDR7oQu3CfpI22288nb...38-h628-no]

[Image: W2SdklutK_mz28FzGNIhYEf4rrCw24bpzVKOsIQM...38-h628-no]

So how did I do matching the drawer front? 

[Image: RCeL8EtsFAdchkrErYMkoTO2mOGoXXE749KBQmst...38-h628-no]

You also can see the center foot I added.  There's no tendency now for the cabinet to tip forward with the drawer extended or with moderate pressure on the front edge of the top, so I think it will be fine w/o a wall anchor.

Thanks for following along. 

John
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#7
John, that is beautiful! I have never asked, but I assume you do woodworking for a living?
Yes
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#8
Thanks.  No, I'm not a pro woodworker.  I'm a retired ceramic engineer who likes to work with his hands and needs to keep his brain engaged solving problems to create things.    

John
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#9
Very Nice work!
"Well, my time of not taking you seriously is coming to a middle."
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#10
John -- So well done and a finishing marvel.  You aced it!

Dave
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