Staining the Trim (Twice)
Our posts of late probably make it look like we haven't been doing anything. The truth is we actually had a pretty productive weekend. With no obligations on our calendars and beautiful weather in Chicago, we were outside staining the trim we'd salvaged from upstairs.
We managed to get through all the door and window trim. After a while we got in to an assembly line-ish routine, with Jeannie going down the line with wood filler (Minwax stainable) and me following with the actual stain (Sherwin-William's Wood Classics, tinted to match our existing interior doors).
All these photos are actually of the second coat. We ended up doing two because the tinted wood putty we first chose wasn't as close a match as we'd hoped. It came across too red, so we went back with a different putty that would simply accept the stain.
The trim with the unstained putty, all lined up along the back of the house, reminded me of a line of pimply highschool kids in gym class. (I know--wierd.)
In spite of the re-work, we ended up pretty pleased that we did the extra coat. Going over the trim with two passes of stain (both of which I wiped off pretty quickly) gave it a deeper tone while not getting too dark.
So, next up we'll need to shellac these babies, then go back and do the whole thing again with the baseboards and several windows.
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Comments
First off, let me warn you that this comment has little to do with the post above. :)
About 2 months ago, I started reading your blog, starting at the very beginning. And I've finally caught up with you! My husband and I are just moving into a 1925 American Foursquare, and I've dragged him over to the computer screen countless times to show him your projects and ask if he'd like to do something similar in our home. You guys are a great source of inspiration to DIYers, and I look forward to seeing the results of your continuing hard work.
Posted by: Diana | August 22, 2005 11:58 AM
Way to go- it looks great and will be worth all the effort. I haven't worked with shellac yet, so I'll watch to see that progress!
Posted by: Trissa | August 22, 2005 2:37 PM
haven't used shellac- of course Gary is an expert-maybe he'll comment.
The wood looks good and I like the analogy of a high school gym class- we have to keep ourselves alert somehow!
Posted by: Jocelyn | August 22, 2005 4:37 PM
Did I just see my name and "shellac" in the same sentence?
Posted by: Gary | August 22, 2005 8:56 PM
Pardon the non-house-owning newb here, but why'd you choose to go with shellac over a more modern, easier to work with finish?
Posted by: Karl | August 24, 2005 12:39 AM
Not to answer for J&A, but to throw my own opinion in:
If you want to touch and see plastic just build your trim out of plastic lumber~ don't waste good wood. Poly is a layer of plastic applied wet. It brings nothing to the wood, no depth. It doesn't penetrate and it doesn't breathe. Because of this there is also, contrary to popular opinion, a lot of evidence that after the first year or two, it actually performs worse than more traditional finishes. It doesn't expand and contract as wood does, and forms only a surface bond. That bond eventually breaks. I just love that hazy layer of bubbled up polyurethane! There are a lot of 200 yr old finishes that look great, but I don't think I've ever seen a poly finish more than 20yrs old that wasn't toast. You can also touch up traditional finishes, which is virtually impossible with Poly because it needs to be done as a layer. In the meantime, it's shine is merely garishly slick instead of lustrous and deep. That subtle difference is one of the little things that add up to the different feeling you get between cheesy "traditional" style new houses, and genuine old houses.
All that said, I still often revert to poly for things I don't really care about.
Posted by: Nathan | August 24, 2005 9:23 AM