Bar Built-in: Day 2 (staining wine rack)

I started staining the wine rack pieces. I'm using Minwax Red Mahogany oil stain. I used this stain on our kitchen cabinets. I'm thinking of only using one coat though after seeing the first results.

I first applied Minwax Prestain, on each piece with a foam brush. The prestain opens up the wood and allows the stain to evenly coat softer woods. Even though I am building a majority of the cabinet out of oak veneer, the wine rack is constucted from premolded pine moulding.

The prestain takes 15 minutes, then you have to wipe off any excess. You then have to apply the stain within 2 hours. I started applying the prestain and only got through just over half of the 84 pieces before the 15 minutes were up. I decided to start wiping off the excess and begin staining.

Prestain (15 min, wipe) + First coat stain (15 min, wipe) + 6 hours + Second coat stain (15 min, wipe) + 24 hours + First coat of Polyurethane + 4 hours + Second coat of Poyurethane.


Staining is not an exact science, I say this because an exact science has expected results. If you are starting to do staining there are a few things you should know.

1. The color of the stain represented on the can, has no representation of the stain you will put on your wood the first coat.
2. The longer you let it stay on the wood, the darker it will be.
3. The more coats you put on, the darker it will be.
   

For my kitchen cabinets I did 3 coats. First coat sat for 45 minutes, then I wiped off the excess. The Second coat was put on for 45 minutes, then I wiped off the excess. And the Third coat was put on for 60 hours. After 60 hours the stain cures and 2 coats of polyurethane was applied.

I think I'm going to do 1 coat for 15 minutes with 2 coats of polyurethane. Maybe 2 coats. I don't want it as dark as my cabinets so it will blend more with the faded wood paneling in the basement. My kitchen cabinets were made from yellow pine so the grain is less prominant. This built in is oak, so I want to really accent the knotty grain.