"Greg Guarino" wrote in message
...
I have 2 questions.

1. I had some furniture made that has a "Cordova" stain, a very dark
reddish, purplish brown. I haven't been able to replicate that color
with the stains I've been able to find. I think it's possible that I
need to leave the stain on longer to get a darker color, but I'm not
sure. The instructions suggested maybe 10 minutes. The color with the
excess stain sitting on the wood seems pretty good, but wiping off the
"excess" leaves a much milder color. I beilieve the stain is called
Minwax Red Mahogany. I don't expect to perfectly match the other
furniture, but I'd like a very dark color.

2. I did a few test pieces with various stains and finishes. With
different products, different woods and different brushes I've gotten
"bubbles". They form immediately as I brush the polyurethane on, and
seem to continue forming over the space of a few minutes. They are
pretty tiny, a 16th of an inch in diameter, but they ruin the finish.
Is this a known problem? Is it air, or something else escaping from
the wood? Is there some tratment I should use before the poly to avoid
the bubbles?


Your stain looks darker before you wipe it off because it's a (sorry, it's
true) pigment stain. You have particles of colored pigment in the vehicle.
Suggests one possible "cure" if you can get the stuff to sample. A
stain/finish combination like Minwax, believe it's called "polyshades," will
allow you to leave the pigment on the surface. Or you could try on your own
to use a glaze of an appropriate pigment from a source like artists' oil
colors, followed by a careful coat of the poly.

Bubbles are a pain with oak. You trap air, you bridge pores, and after a
time the bubbles pop. Reduce the viscosity of your poly by thinner, or use
a thinner poly like "wipe-on" poly, so that the reduced cohesion will allow
it to slump into the pores rather than bridge and bust.

What ever you choose, experiment on the plywood scraps, sanded, please, to
the same grit as your piece. The real wood won't look the same, ever.