The stand, stained and finished

To take advantage of a recent stretch of good weather, I took the stand outdoors and, with my mother's help, applied stain and finish:


The legs and stretchers were first treated with a wood conditioner to minimize blotching, which maple can be prone to. Then two coats of a dark walnut gel stain were applied. When the stain was dry, four coats of satin finish (some kind of lacquer in aerosol form) were sprayed on and the final coat lightly rubbed with 0000 steel wool.

Now the interior moldings and the legs are a pretty decent colour match. I plan to make the music desk out of maple and finish it the exact same way.