STAIRS AND TRIM
SMALL CONDO SPECIAL
It took less than two days and this little condo was cleaned up and ready to go. When I arrived the walls were white, but looked as though it had been some time since they were last painted. My customer provided the paint and I went to work on the walls, doors and trim. In the end it was a quick job and remarkably affordable, allowing my customer to move in to a clean and fresh-looking space.
DARWIN”S BARN
STAINING THE MAPLE RAILING
I had the occasion to stain and clear-coat a nice maple railing made by Victoria artisan and furniture maker, Kris Hansen. He did an especially nice job of putting it all together and it looked great just as it was, unstained.
Maple is tough to stain as the grain is uneven. Some parts of a piece of maple will accept MUCH more stain than other areas where the grain is tighter. I used varathane wood conditioner, but to be honest, I wasn’t that happy with it. it took longer to dry than the instructions indicated and in the end, didn’t do much to stop the porosity of the softer grain areas. Next time, I think I’ll use a thinned-out varnish instead and perhaps wipe the tighter grain so that the conditioner doesn’t close it up too much.
After that I used Danish Wood Oil as a stain and it brought out the grain nicely. Following that, I clear coated it twice with a clear urathane. All in all, it came out looking good and now, thanks to the clear coat, it is well protected too.
