Re: Bedside table project - starting the finish!
OK, I've started on the finish now. As I mentioned previously, I have some color matching problems to deal with. The wood I had to work with was not the best color to begin with... of course I couldn't really tell that in the lumber yard. I just tried to match the color as well as I could, and counted on having to dye it later. Well, this shows my results so far. The fist picture shows one of my top panels. You can see that the bottom board is darker than the rest. The second picture shows how it looks after an inital application of dye - better, but the bottom board still stands out. So I masked off that board and sprayed the rest of the panel one more time, and the result was a much better color match... not perfect, but better.
Sorry about the pics... it's really hard to capture the real color accurately in my shop. Honest, it looks much better in person!
I had the same problem to deal with on the other panel... except this time the darker board was in the middle.
I also had to touch up a small strip of sapwood in both panels, using an artist's brush to apply the dye to these areas. The end result is pretty good I think.
I realize that the color will darken and even up more with time, so I was VERY sparing with the dye. I'll spray the tables the same way, then I think I'll use a wiping varnish for the finish. Or maybe a sprayed finish... I haven't really decided yet.