The Almost Cube - Topping it Off

Last but not least - finishing and installing the table top. The fat lady has sung, and now it's time to finish this. Literally, we need to apply the finish.

Don't despair, the clown striped wood on the left is the bottom. The light and dark contrasts are from the heartwood and sapwood variances. This is why it's on the bottom. I'll show you how to decipher all of this after the jump.

Before moving on to the finishing stage, the piece needs to be sanded. I believe I started at a 150 grit (150 particles per square inch) and finished with a 220 grit. It's important to use a sanding pad or board to keep from sanding grooves into the wood with your fingers. The finish will only accent the flaws, not hide them!

Something like this works great, or you can use a piece of scrap wood and wrap the sandpaper around it. No need to make this difficult. The trick to sanding is to start with the heaviest grit and let the paper do the work. There's no need to start with 320 grit paper and burn your arms and the paper up trying to sand out some bumps, or a glue spot. Start with 80 if your surface is rough and march up the grits, using the next higher number to remove the scratches from the last grit. It probably doesn't need to be said, but with wood, sand with the grain. With. The. Grain.

I like to stop around 220 grit with something that will get used, like a table top. The most significant reason to stop at that grit is because you can start to rub over and fill the wood pores with sanding dust. Too much of a good thing can cause your finish to soak in unevenly across the surface and make it look blotchy and mottled. This is especially prominent in hard maple. Stopping at ~220 grit allows the finish to be evenly absorbed and remain smooth to the touch. 

The picture above details what I call "over-sanding." The top half was sanded to a 180 grit and the bottom to 600. You'll notice how it looks washed out because the stain/finish combo couldn't be absorbed into the wood. The only exception, in my opinion, is to sand end grain to a 4-600 grit to intentionally stop up the pores. End grain, due to having a more open pore structure, absorbs more stain and can finish darker than the rest. That extra sanding can help to mitigate the effect. A fine cigar or jewelry box can end with a much higher grit, but that's an entirely different animal.

Now, back to the sample finish on the bottom. If you'll notice in the picture below, the sapwood is kind of yellow-ish in color.

It's very apparent when you look at the almost white end grain that hasn't been finished with anything. This is a result of the oil based Minwax Antique Oil Finish seen in the background. I like the product because it gives wood a "warm" look without a plastic shine or synthetic feel to the touch. It does, however, have a slight yellow tint to it - from the color of the resins used to make it. Because of this, and the more modern look of this table, I wanted a finish with no color tone, but would still protect from the dreaded "cup rings" of death.

Come for the DIY, stay for the comedy.

Enter, the solution. General Finishes PolyAcrylic.

It is a water borne finish. Most people say water based, which is technically incorrect. The finish is in the form of polyurethane globlets (yes, globlets) suspended in a water based solution. Oil "based" finished use a petroleum suspension, you know, the stuff with the yellow tint. OK, great. Now what?

We have to add a step because of the water content of the finish. Walnut likes it's collar grain to be popped before applying the finish. If you were to apply this finish after sanding, the water in it would cause the grain to raise up and look like two-day face stubble. To mitigate this, take a damp rag (wrung out thoroughly) and wipe it over the freshly sanded top. Boom. Re-sand the entire piece with 220 grit to knock off the raised fibers. You've successfully popped the grain. It will now be raised back up, accept stain/finish more uniformly and not pop underneath your finish (as much, anyways). Another explanation (a much better one) and another use for popping the grain can be found here.

Apply the finish with a good quality foam brush. You can get cheap multi-packs, but I have found them to be lacking.. The soft, tighter celled ones are pretty nice. Pro tip: pour some of the finish into another container and work from that. You don't want to contaminate your finish by dipping your brush back into it. This finish has a fast drying and recoat time, you should be able to apply several in a day. I sanded with 400 grit paper between coats to knock the dust nibs down and any grain that raised from applying the finish.

A blurry picture of how it turned out can be seen above. Be sure to hit the edges as this is where moisture can be absorbed most easily and cause any warping. Take your time on this one and it will turn out great. It won't hurt to buff with steel wool (#0000) and some paste wax (not automotive kind) to really bring out a shine to it if you want.

Happy Thanksgiving!