I am just about ready to start the finish work on my private home cinema, ive spent the last 2 years engineering this room to the max (i.e. sound isolation, soundproofing, acoustic design, etc.) and I want to put the same quality effort into the finish work. The room will have a coffered ceiling, wainscoting, columns, and hundreds of feet of mouldings.
My dilemma.......
The soffit (bulkhead) that runs the perimeter of the room, used to hide all the rooms wires, hvac, etc. will be done in veneered plywood (walnut).
The rest will be solid stock walnut that I have been collecting for the past several years. This walnut has been air dried for 2-4 years and briefly put in the kiln to get the moisture content down that extra few percent. Nevertheless, it looks completely different than the steamed veneer plywood.
I nailed down the finish I wanted between two schedules. First was 2 coats of orange shellac followed by 4-5 coats of Waterlox OSF. Second was same schedule (without the shellac).
As you can guess, the nice walnut looks completely different than the steamed crap.
My question, how can I bring the steamed veneer closer to the solid stock, as far as color/looks. Picture attached of the shellac/waterlox piece and a section of plywood.
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5a59399b.jpg