Statue bases – day 5

I had a few minutes last night to get the stain on my statue bases. I noticed that a lot of dust had settled over night, so I ran the shop-vac  over the surface to suck off any dust without stirring it up.

Cleaning off the dust

Nooks and crannies with a brush

All of the furniture, that I make for St. Peter’s gets the same finish. Minwax stain, Cherry 235, and a couple of coats of semi-gloss polyurethane. I usually apply the stain with a piece of an old tee-shirt, but that wouldn’t help in all of the tight spots around the trim. I decided to apply the stain, into the nooks and crannies, with a throw-away china brush, then rub out the excess with the tee-shirt.

Rubbing the stain on

Once the detailed areas were done, I just rubbed on the rest with the cloth. Before I started applying the stain, I placed a chunk of wood under the bases. This enables me to spin them fairly easily, like they are on a lazy susan.

Box one, almost done

Both boxes are now stained. I will let them sit for a day to cure, then set up a temporary spray booth for the polyurethane.

Both boxes stained and ready for poly