A new table

We live just a few miles from the mother ship and attended a cooking class (put on by Bobby-Q) over the holidays. They gave out BGE Christmas ornaments to all that were there. I needed some handles and the idea just hit me to use those. I got a couple of wooden handles to use as the base. Then I used my belt sander to grind out a base for the ornaments. A little epoxy and viola!

Thank you for the complement!

It is actually the second time I finished the table. The first time, around Thanksgiving, I messed up the stain trying to get it dark like that. I made the mistake of too much stain and leaving it on. Looked lousy. So as soon as the weather perked up, I sanded the entire thing down and redid it. A couple of things I learned. The first time I sanded it too smooth and the stain did not take. I hit it this time with 80 grit on the belt sander and 60 grit on the finish sander. That opened up the pores and things worked very nicely. You can also wipe the wood down with a wet rag prior to staining and that will open up the pores as well. Let it dry before you stain though. To your original question. I used Cabot Jarrah Brown stain. One coat only. It really popped when I put the finish on. For that I used 3 coats of Minwax Helmsman Spar urethane (satin). I waited a day between all coats. I very lightly sanded between finish coats with 220 grit and then for the last coat I used steel wool.

I got them as door prizes at the BGE headquarters here is Atlanta (Tucker actually). They put on cooking classes and these were given as Christmas ornaments. I was looking for handles and these fit the bill very well. They are remarkably solid.