Looking for stain help

[Jenny Trice]

I am finishing the top of a cabinet that has birch plywood with a maple edge. I am trying to match a stain that is on the order of cherry in color. Do I need to worry about blotchy stain on the birch? Secondly, the top of this cabinet is at about 40 inches high. I want a satin, durable finish. I'm thinking of either Verathane Diamond polyurethane or General Finishes Top Coat.

I have seen the recent post on finishes for wood counter top and the recommendation for Waterlox, which is a tung oil blend. I do not think I want the amber tone of this finish.
I would prefer to use water based finish. I will be brushing or wiping, not spraying the finish. I don't want to break the bank.

Is there something better that I'm overlooking?

[Scott Holmes]

Waterlox is not a tung oil blend it is a varnish MADE from tung oil. It is very durable and also very amber in color.

Birch is very prone to blotchiness; so is maple. The darker you want to make it the more blotch you will get, until you get VERY dark and then you will not be able to see the grain of the wood.

A water-borne finish will not impart any additional color. However, they can look a bit gray or blue over very dark colored wood. Most water-borne finishes are made to either spray or brush-on I don't think they are recommended for wipe-on.

Test your entire finishing schedule on scrap wood; make sure you don't skip any steps while finsihing your sample.

[John TenEyck]

This coffee table was made with birch ply and maple trim.

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I matched the color of an existing piece of furniture; it's not cherry, but it's not that far off either. Anyway, I did this by using a toner, not a stain, in order to avoid the blotching that often occurs with both birch and cherry. The finishing schedule was something like this. Wash coat of Sealcoat shellac diluted 50% with DNA. 3 or 4 toner coats made from 1/2 Amber shellac + 1/2 Sealcoat shellac, diluted 50% with DNA, to which I added Transtint dyes, Reddish Brown and Medium Brown, if I remember correctly. Topcoats were GF's Gel Poly. Everything was applied by hand, although spraying is far easier.

Toners or dyes work better on blotch prone wood than stains. If you do decide to go the stain route, I recommend you look at Gel stains as they are less likely to blotch than normal stains. Many people report excellent results with stains by first applying Charles Neil's Botch Controller (or something similar). I've never used it.

John