whoa, black cherry {bam-ba-lam}

Are y'all jammin' down now?  Awesome.

If not, let me help.

{Seriously...what is that bass player wearing?!}
 
Okay, put your weed and munchies away and let's get on with things.

Actually, I'm going to play that video one more time because it's so zippy.

I'm not going to dwell on the past, but if you recall, I got stuck with a bunch of crap doors because Menards refused to take them back.  I complained about that here and here.

But I've chosen to take my lemons and turn them into Whiskey Sours.

I wanted to do a really nice tutorial on how to stain new wood doors.  I have to revise the steps a bit because I have MasterCrap doors.

 Before I realized what I was getting into, I purchased some fabulous stain from the local woodworker's shop.

The stain is made in the USA by General Finishes.

It's called Whoa, Black Cherry.

It's a water-based gel-ish stain.  I know oil-based is better (I don't really know that), but this was the color that looked best with the floors I picked out.

And the fact that it's water clean-up makes me do the happy dance.

To Black Betty.

They told me I could wipe the stain on with a rag or with a foam brush.  A natural brush is for oil-base only.  For water base you use synthetic.

Okeydoke.

I chose the foam brush because I'm really sloppy and I thought it would give me more precision.

To start, put on some gloves.

Use something like rubber, latex, latex-free, or whatever.

This, however, might be overkill.

You're not castrating a pig or giving a cow a colonoscopy.

source

If you don't want to wear gloves, perhaps you shouldn't try to DIY stain your new doors at all.

***DO EVERYTHING WITH THE GRAIN OF THE WOOD***

My doors have an oak veneer.  And a dog's butt.

First, I lightly wiped the wood down with a damp cloth.  Then I lightly sanded with 180 grit sandpaper.

That's when all the veneer started molting like over-bleached hair.

 Get our your wood glue.  You're gonna need it.

After gluing down all your cheap veneer, CAREFULLY wipe it with tack cloth to remove all the dust.  (I'm quite sure you'll lose more veneer at this point, so be ready.)

Once the surface is prepped (you don't want the surface perfectly smooth or the stain won't take as well), start staining.

I began inside the panels.  I did the "walls" then the first panel inset.  I applied the stain in both directions (up and down, not side-to-side...always with the grain).

Don't be chintzy with the stain. 
You want it to soak in to all the grain.

I'm a poet and don't know it.

 When that panel is all covered, grab one of your husband's white t-shirts that you never want to see him wear again and tear it into strips and wipe the stain off.  The hardest part is getting in the corners.  Try to stay with the grain as much as humanly possible.

Then I did the same for panel #2.

Then the horizontal pieces.

Then the vertical pieces.

All the while applying the stain on a section, then wiping it off.  The longer you leave the stain on, the darker the color will be.

Doesn't my storage room provide the perfect beautiful backdrop for these photos?

Once the whole door was stained (and dried), I lightly sanded with 180 or 320 grit (I forget), used my tack cloth, then brushed on satin poly in the same sequence.  I used the same brand as the stain.  It's also water-based.

I used a clean foam brush and applied in the same direction as the grain.  Don't overbrush your poly good golly.

Miss Molly. 

After it dried for a few hours, I lightly sanded with 320-grit paper to get it smooth, then applied another coat.

I tried to get this last photo as representative as possible of the color and finish.  It's a rich brown with warm red tones.

I never planned on having red tones in our house.
But that's just how it all seemed to end up.

Just like I never planned on having a gray house.

They look pretty nice when they're finished, and they're nice and heavy because they are solid wood.  But make no mistake, I would never recommend purchasing these doors.  They were not fun to work with because of the cheap, thin veneer.

Do you have any experience staining and finishing doors?
Do you love how they turned out?

Have you ever given a cow a colonoscopy?

Inquiring bloggers want to know.

I'm sharing this ridiculousness with:

Elizabeth & Co.
Trash 2 Treasure
DIY by Design