HUGE UPDATE!!!
Finally, the day I've been waiting for has come. My favorite part of any build project I've done: the stain!
Started with finish sanding. No pics of this cause it ain't that interesting. Sanded the entire cabinet, doors and panels using the orbital sander and a 150 grit pad.
Afterward I was left with this mess:
This simply cannot do. Especially when I'm about to try to make this thing remotely pretty. So I cleaned up the garage and borrowed my neighbor's big shop vacuum to tackle the saw dust. Once I got most of it in the vacuum, I used a leaf blower to blow the rest out of the garage.
Much better:
Layed out all of the pieces that are getting stained on scrap wood off the floor.
My creative, talented and beautiful fiance picked out the stain color. It's an oil base. I went with oil base because it's a far more durable finish in my opinion. Plus, oil and water don't mix so it will withstand getting splashed and wet from the excited turt.
Since the cleanup is so much messier with oil-based stain, I use cheap foam throw-away brushes. They tend to apply more evenly I've found than a bristle brush anyway.
I don't use much stain at all as not much is needed. Just dipped the very tip of the brush in the stain.
Here is an initial color sampling on the basking cover.
And the basking cover completed.
After that, I went to town on the rest of the pieces.
And here is the cabinet in all it's stained glory!
I gave the stain about 2 hours to cure a bit before moving on to the next step: clear finish. I like polyurethane simply cause I haven't tried anything else.
Used the same type of brush but this one's a little bigger.
Looks like honey.
Here you can see it being applied. Making the flat stain shiny.
And again, the completed basking cover.
Finally, here is the completed cabinet with stain and polyurethane finishes applied:
W00t!!!!! Turned out pretty good!!!!
I let a little time pass and thought I could do a little more before calling it quits. I applied some glue to the in-tank light fixtures.
And glued them in place.
Added a little extra on top just in case.
There they both are.
All in all, I'm a happy camper today!
Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 7:58 pm 
