Staining Poplar and Birch

[Ed Popelas]

Any help would be much appreciated:

My father-in-law is building kitchen cabinets for my home. The doors and face frame will be made out of poplar and the top, bottom and sides will be made out of 3/4 inch birch plywood. I have been trying to achieve a even cherry finish with both wood types. After looking online, people have said it is possible to do that but don't really explain how to accomplish task. Can anyone please explain in detail how to stain birch plywood and poplar to achieve a cherry finish that is extremely even color?

Thank you,

Ed

[David Christopher]

Ed, you can put sanding sealer on them first, sand and then stain over the sealer and all will come out the same color

[John Keeton]

Ed, David nailed it with the sanding sealer. I would make some test runs, and start with a thinned coat first, as it won't take much. In my experience the birch will tend to stain much more evenly and with a little less dark pores showing than will the poplar. Without the sealer, you would have substantial difficulty getting them close. TEST, TEST, TEST. You may also want to try a couple of different stains - gel stains may work better, but will hide some of the grain.

And, good luck!

[Prashun Patel]

Caveat: all this is only from personal experience of about 3 years:

I haven't had good luck with sanding sealers or prestain conditioners. They either don't provide enough sealing, or provide too much sealing.

I prefer to use shellac. More control. Thin it way back to 1/2#. Then brush or spray it on.

For added control, try using a gel stain - which tends to sit more on the surface than its counterparts. They do tend to obscure grain a little, but that's not really a concern in most cases with poplar and birch which aren't used typically for their great grain patterns...

You can also try yr hand at aniline dye. These are put on the raw wood and tend to blotch less than pigment stains. At least, you can dilute them way back and 'sneak' up on yr color.

[Scott Holmes]

When you seal the wood and then add color you aren't technically staining the wood... you are adding a color coat of stain between finish coats this is called GLAZE.

Glazing is adding pigment stain between clear coats. Adding tinted finish is called toning.

Dark? Cherry color on birch and poplar will require multiple steps... You can't slap stain on the wood and you're done. Dye (base color), Seal, tone (blend), seal, Glaze (more color), seal, tone (final over all color blend if needed), seal, then top coat.

NOTE: I use shellac to seal; sanding sealer is not as clear and it is very soft.

The actual steps will depend on the color you want when you are finished.

[Todd Burch]

I have done this, and used both woods in the same project, side by side with cherry, and you cannot tell them apart.

I used about an 11 step process in the study I did, and the guy paid me $40K to do it (included all the woodwork as well). I had to buy a $2,000 compressor and $1500 worth of air filtration equipment to do the job onsite.

In short, "cherry" spray toner, followed by stain, followed by sealer, followed by glaze, followed by lacquer. I use ML Campbell products.

Todd

[Ed Popelas]

Thanks Guys,

I thought this project would take many steps to complete and sure enough you have proven my thoughts to be correct. Before my original post, I tried applying different color stains with no progress. With your suggestions, I believe that I can finish the cabinets with a beautiful outcome.

Thankyou.