Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Finishing Walnut/Oak Bar

Hello, I just built, with my carpenter brother, a 8ft bar in my new home. The bar has 3/4 inch walnut plywood top surrounded by solid oak bar rail on the outside and drink rail on the inside. The front and sides are covered in 1/4 inch oak plywood with a raised panel pattern all out of 5/6th walnut pieces and 1/4 inch moldings. There is a walnut step and kick plate with moldings as well. We are rather excited about the way this thing turned out and I certainly don't want to ruin it through finishing. I have read many archives to take me through the process but was wondering if someone could briefly step by step me through this. Start sanding or filling nail holes? What type of sand paper? How many stain finishes? Sand in between staining? What about sealing/protecting? Sorry but am a rookie when it comes to this. Thanks in advance for your help.

I would sand to 150 grit or so. Stain, then fill the nail holes with matching filler. Finish with your choice of tung oil, poyurethane, or such. Sand between coats of finish, usually 180 - 240 or so depending upon what finish you are using.

Hope this helps.

chfite, Thanks for the reply. Just to clarify then. One coat of stain. Then fill holes, then multiple (say 3 or 4) coats of finish (polyurethane or marine grade) with light sanding in between?

Yes, that sounds about right.

Good luck.

i just stained an in-the-wall ironing board cabinet & used steel wool to "sand" in between stain coats. it seemed to work great.

If you use water-based polyurethane, don't use steel wool because the fragments left in the finish will rust.

Hello again and hopefully my final question. It was advised that I sand and stain first, then fill nail holes with say Minwax wood putty, then apply my desired number of protective finishes with light sanding in between. I have completed raw sanding the bar with 200 and 240 grit. I sunk all nails and read on the instructions of the filler to apply before staining. I just want to make sure I do it in the right order. Any thoughts?

For the best results, stain then buy the matching filler. You will come closer to matching it with the stain in place. I would rethink having sanded it to 240, 150 is plenty for raw wood. This fine sanding will tend to make the differences in the high and low places in the grain more prominent.

I don't like to apply filler before staining in case the vehicle in the filler causes some uneven staining around the filled area. I don't use filler, but that is a different story.

Hope this helps.

If you have kids around, you could find matching filler in their crayon box. For next time, finish the trim pieces first, then glue and tape them on, a lot easier..