sugarfiend06
Visitor
Posts: 1
|
 |
« on: February 15, 2010, 01:23:57 PM » |
|
I'm embarking on my first DIY wood project, a pair of unfinished wooden chairs I bought off Craigslist. I thought the wood was in pretty good condition considering they hadn't been finished and the previous owner stored them outside for years and years, but after close examination, there were cracks in many of the pieces and most of the nails were no longer holding them together. (Well, the lack of structural integrity was pretty evident when I first saw them, haha.) We pretty much took the chairs apart and put them back together using exterior-grade screws. Now the question is what to stain them with.
The wood had been weathered to a silver-gray, and after an accident trying to take two pieces apart (to say the least), it became obvious that we had redwood on our hands. After sanding and a quick wiping-down with mineral spirits, the gray has mostly gone away and revealed more of a red color, but because I used a good amount of wood filler on the cracks, the color is certainly not uniform and I think I'll need at least a semi-transparent stain to cover it all.
Would Woodrich stains color the wood filler so it won't be so obvious? I've attached a picture of one of the chairs for reference. It's not quite as red in person as it is in the photo, but the wood filler is pretty conspicuous.
I live in the LA area - there's obviously no snow, but every winter there will be some rain and certainly lots of hot, dry, sunny summer days. Ideally I'd like a stain that wouldn't hide the wood grain completely, as I like the warmth of the wood look. (The wood filler is certainly not working for it..) It would also have to protect against the wayward rain shower, and preferably I wouldn't have to sand down to reapply. (They're only chairs, I'd be okay with reapplying it every year as long as it was easy to do so.) I'm fine with the weathering look, as long as it was more even over the entirety of the chair. I think the wood is pretty dry now considering the age and weathering, although I'm not too familiar with wood so I couldn't compare. Would the Timber Oil or Stain & Seal be more appropriate for the job?
I also had another question regarding sealing/staining. I've sanded the wood so it looks a lot cleaner, but there are still some very dark areas, especially in the back where it was presumably hard to clean. I don't know if it's mildew or overall discoloration. It came off pretty well with sanding. Should I give it a good solid cleaning with TSP, bleach, and/or oxalic acid before staining them?
|
