For the past what seems like months I have been working on a small cabinet/nightstand for SWMBO. You know how it goes, " To build YOUR cabinet, I'll need those raised panel bits and that dovetail jig and that router and spindle sander,..." LOL
I am a newbie and have been experimenting with several features in this cabinet; raised panel doors, hand cut-dovetail corners and basis scrollwork on the legs/feet. I have been using hard maple and maple plywood for the carcus. For a newbie, I have been quite pleased with my work.
Well before I assemble the cabinet, I decided I should stain the parts. I wanted to match our Pennsylvania House cherry bedroom furniture which is a darkish brown color. Reading all about staining maple to look like cherry here on the rec and the web, I bought aniline dyes; Antique Cherry Red and Deep something Brown. I mixed up the Cherry Red and tested on some scrap. Way too red. So I added just a dash of the brown. Like a chemical reaction, the dye instantly turned a deep dark sh-- brown. I tried it on scrap and decided that it wasn't too far from the bedroom furniture color and decided to use it.
And so, I started slapping the stuff on my project pieces. I used a 4 inch sponge brush to apply it. Well, it has made the biggest mess. Everywhere the brush lapped shows a dark streak. It is impossible to get the color to even out. There are several dark botches where the maple/plywood soaked the dye right up and in other areas the wood hardly took up any dyes. You can hardly see my beautiful hand cut dovetails. There is a white line on each plywood piece where the plys butt against each other. The door panels look like walnut stained yellow pine.
I an so disappointed it this mess. I had a really nice cabinet in the works that I was proud of and now its a shitty brown mess. I have no idea of how to remedy this mess other than paint it white and stick it in my garage.
Gary