My wife really wanted built-in storage at our rear door, so I designed a bench to give the setup some character and make a giant IKEA cabinet feel a little more intentional.
The look we’re aiming for is mid-century modern with warm walnut-ish tones. I tried hard to find actual walnut locally, but the widest boards I could easily get were only about 2". I don’t have a planer or jointer, and I’m short on time to drive out of the city chasing better lumber. So I went with the best easy-to-find hardwood option I could get: laminated maple stair treads.
After way too much research, I convinced myself that staining maple was a bad idea and that aniline dye would be the better route to darken it a bit. The only dye I’ve tested so far is dark walnut. The poly is a homemade 50/50 wipe-on poly mixture. The dye samples looks kind of cheap and flat to me.
considering the amount of time it took to properly mortise and tendon the uprights and get to this point I don't want to ruin it.
At this point I’m not trying to fake walnut. I’d be happy just getting the figure in the maple to pop and warming/darkening it by a tone or two without making it look muddy.
Any finish schedule suggestions?
I'm temped to try to get a couple other dye colours (amber / yellowish etc) and try the old guitar layering sanding trick, but I'm pretty afraid it will just look like crap.
I’m leaning back toward just the homemade 50/50 oil-based wipe-on poly, but open to any suggestions to add subtle warmth and depth.