Just about finished...pine bookcase

[Michael Donahue]

Hey folks. After a few days in my sawdust factory I'm almost done with this pine bookcase. It's all stained and I'm debating what I want to do for a top coat. I'm leaning towards a few coats of satin wipe-on poly because I want this to look old and a bit worn.

I'm planning a matching headboard and maybe a nightstand and these will accompany a table I recently finished from some old pine boards I saved. I love fancy wood as much as the next guy, but there's something that draws me to pine sometimes!

Hope you like it!

[John Keeton]

Michael, you have a ways to go before that will look "old and a bit worn!" Looks like you did an excellent job and it is very nice in its present condition. It will be a nice compliment to other pieces.

You could put on a very light wash coat, sand out the nibs, then add a glaze, leaving some in the recessed areas. Then finish with your chosen top coat or two. Not sure that is the look you are after, but it may give you an aged patina.

[Larry Frank]

It is a very nice looking bookcase. What did you stain it with? I like the golden color. For finishing, I like to use 2 coats of brush on poly followed by a final wipe on coat. With some projects, it is tough to avoid any runs in the finish with brushing the poly and several coats of the wipe on seem to work well. Maybe you can post a final picture of the bookcase and the table.

[Mark Kosmowski]

Very nice! Let us know what you decide to do for final finishing.

[Sean Nagle]

Excellent work! What kind of pine did you use?

I've used Deft lacquer (brushed) on pine with excellent results. I put on a couple coats sanding n between. I then applied Skidmore's Liquid Beeswax Woodfinish with steel wool. The result was an ultra-smooth, satin finish. It was a very good finish for pine, very transparent. It would work well on your bookcase since you've already stained it. By the way what stain did you use. That's a perfect color.

http://www.skidmores.com/products.asp?cat=12

[Michael Donahue]

Thanks for all of the replies folks. I used a General gel stain called Golden Pine for the color and I think it worked out pretty well with minimal blotchiness. I actually didn't mind that anyway because I wanted this to look a little rough around the edges. It looks a little more red in the pic than it does in real life but I'm very pleased with the color.

As far as the pine itself....I hate to say it but I got it at the borg I like to cruse by the scrap bin when I'm there and I've picked up some good pieces there. They also had a stack of 1x10 4' for $1.88. That's about $.56/bf but you have to deal with the fact that it's borg lumber. It would never stay straight enough to make a door, but it works just fine with everything glued together here!