Limbert Umbrella Stand part 3, finish line in sight

It's time to finish this Umbrella stand. Now, I've been finishing arts and crafts style furniture for some time, and when I Started it was as simple as it gets, much like every woodworker in the beginning, stain and Poly. As I learned more about the style and wood finishing the technique progressed. I progressed to a danish oil and thought that I was saving time and effort only to find that the finished product was less than satisfactory. Then I came across several articles on creating an arts and crafts finish, these included everything from ammonia fuming to using roofing tar as part of the finish. What I landed on as my go to finish is a multipart process of a water based dye, a sealing coat of shellac, a dark gel stain, a few coats of thicker shellac, with a layer or two of wax to give the piece that antique feel.

I finish sanded to umbrella stand to 150 grit using a random orbit sander followed by hand block sanding. After blowing off the piece with compressed air I use a microfiber tack cloth to further clean the sanding dust from the grain. I have samples of quartersawn white oak that I have sanded and finished with different base colors and using these I decided that I wanted this umbrella stand to have a darker base than my chair and sofa, so I start with a medium brown dye diluted in water. Using a foam brush I flood the surface of the piece with the dye and let it soak in for ten minutes. If I see any areas that are under saturated I add some dye to these areas. After about 10 minutes I use a clean dry rag to wipe off excess dye and to dry the surface. I place the piece on supports to hold it off the table so that air can get to all sides of the stand. I found out the hard way that if you don't do this than the excess dye pools up on the tarp and wicks up from the bottom and discolors the base of the piece. I leave it to dry for a few days.

Once the piece has completely dried you need to lightly sand off any grain that has been raised by the water based dye. You could mix the dye in denatured alcohol to prevent grain raising but it has been shown that alcohol based dyes tend to fade over time. I use 220 grit sandpaper on a sanding block to eliminate any grain that has been raised making sure not to cut to deeply into the dye and not to lighten the edges too much. Once this is done I again use compressed air and a microfiber tack cloth to clean the piece.

I make a nice tight pad out of lint free t-shirt material and wipe on a sealing coat of shellac, this has been thinned to a 1lb. cut. (more on shellac cuts and the whole finishing technique in a future post) After this dries I give it a light rubbing with a 320 grit yellow sanding pad followed by wiping down with the microfiber tack cloth.

Now its time to add the real color, the base color will only be really visible on the ray flakes. I use brown mahogany gel stain, this stain will act as a coloring glaze for the main body and darker coloring into the grain. I use a foam brush to cover the surface with the gel stain, I only do one part at a time because there is a fine line between just right and too dry, if the gel stain gets too dry it will be very difficult to wipe off. When the surface of the gel starts to "flash", that is, starts to look dull, I use another clean soft lint free rag to wipe the gel off and rub it into the grain. This is what gives the finish the "hand rubbed" look, I rub with the grain to remove most of the stain, then across and in circles to rub it into the grain. I make sure that there are no blotches left, the gel stain if left to long resembles paint. After rubbing the surface until the cloth doesn't pick up any color I leave the piece to air and dry overnight.

The left side rubbed out, the right side just the base dye.









After rubbing out the gel stain.

The following day I wipe off any dust that fell on the stand overnight. Taking a 2lb cut of amber shellac I rub on two layers. One of the beauties of shellac is that you don't have to rub out the surface between coats, the denatured alcohol in the mixture melts the surface of the previous layer. Another nice thing is that if for some reason you do get a run or drip, you can take a cloth soaked in denatured alcohol and dissolve it. Once everything is dry and I'm happy with the build of the shellac and the finish, I wipe on a coat of watco dark liquid wax. I use dark wax because of the grainy nature of the white oak, if I had used light wax, once dry it would leave white residue in the grain that would detract from the beauty of the finish. Letting the wax sit for 30 minutes I then wipe the piece with a clean cloth and wipe on another coat of wax let stand, and wipe the surface clean for the final time.

After placing felt pads on the bottom to protect my hardwood floor the Limbert #254 umbrella stand is ready to replace that old umbrella stand that I never really was happy with. Now I am one piece closer to filling my house with handmade high quality furniture.

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." William Morris

Limbert Umbrella Stand part 2, bottoms up.

Well I had come up with a way to fit the bottom along with the copper drip pan, but as they say about the best laid plans....
I did have some nice copper left over, but apparently I had used it last spring to make a guard for my bluebird house to keep the local snakes and rats out. What I had left was not wide enough to suit the purpose. Luckily, I had some copper left over from a clock face I made, this is much thinner and not good enough for a drip pan, however I could make a wood bottom and cover it in this thinner copper after its finished. From the original photos I decided that the bottom should be half way between the two cutouts. This came out to 3 inches above the base of the side. I installed the dado blade into my tablesaw at a width of 3/4 of an inch and set it at 4 degrees and 1/4 inch at the lowest. I moved my fence over to the left side of the blade and ran all four sides through.

Before I left the shop the other day I glued up a piece for the bottom, today I cut it at 10 1/4 inches square. I didn't think sending this small piece through the planer was a good idea so I got out my trusty Stanley No. 4 and took a few swipes across the board until it fit snugly but not tightly. Sometimes a well tuned hand plane works faster, and better, that a planer. The added plus is that I can keep listening to Woodtalk while I'm doing it.

The bottom slid nicely into the dado's, with just a little whack from a small dead blow hammer it fit perfectly.

I added the other two sides and checked the fit of the miters along the length. The fit was good and the bottom fit well, so one final sanding of the inside and it was time to glue it up. With a good covering of glue along the miters and inside the dado's I slipped the sides on one at a time making sure that the bottom was centered in the dado.



With some blue tape around the feet and the middle I stood up the umbrella stand. I used two 90 degree clamping blocks at the top to insure squareness and added a few clamps to hold the joints tight while the glue dried. Then I added a few more clamps, then a few more.... I wasn't really pulling the joints together as much as holding the sides tight so the opposing clamps didn't push them out.







I left it to dry overnight and this morning removed the clamps and gave the outside a good sanding to 150 grit with a random orbital sander and then touched up the edges with a sanding block also using 150 grit. The results were fantastic, I am really happy about how this is coming along. If you look at the picture below you can see inside the cutouts to the bottom. I think that I will use the thin copper to cover it after I'm done finishing it.