First Desk Leaves the Shop

The first G&G desk carcass FINALLY made it out of the shop this past weekend and into our home office for my wife.   The desk is complete, minus the finish on the drawers, but she has pressed it into service while I finish the drawers.

The finish has turned out OK, but much darker than I would have liked (much darker than the samples that I did indicated).   I've had this problem with aniline dye before...I always make it too dark.  But, the dark looks pretty good anyway,  it just doesn't show off the ebony accents as much as I'd like.

I used a pre-mixed  Behlen Aniline Dye (alcohol based) in their "medium brown mahogany" color.  I did not dilute it (I should have).   I also used a water-based "General Finishes" brand Poly/Acrylic Satin finish as the topcoat (5 coats of it).   This was my first time using the newer water based varnishes, and I mostly was pleased with the result.  It was certainly nice to have less toxic smell in the basement.

I hope to finish the "finish" on the drawers for my wife's desk this weekend, and then move on to the finish on the 2nd desk.....after that, this project can finally be put to bed.

Overall, I like the design of the desks a lot.   I am relatively pleased with my woodwork on the desks (maybe an 8 out 10) and am much less pleased with my finish on the desks (maybe 6 out of 10)...but, these desks have been a great woodworking learning experience, and that was the point.  When I started the desks, they were somewhat beyond my ability, but I pushed through it and learned a lot, and my next projects will benefit from them mightily.

I will post pictures soon.

Comments

[Karl]

How are you testing the dye swatches? On large boards or small ones? I've heard it is very hard to get an accurate picture if the surface area is too small...

[msanfilippo]

On small ones...that was clearly a mistake. The small ones did not end up being representative enough...another lesson learned.

Matt