I took a piece of the wagon to the hardware store to match up the color with the stain chart, just to be sure. I thought Minwax's Speical Walnut #224 was a good choice and I had that on hand. But I wanted to be doubly sure. Yes, that color was a very close match, given the age of the wood and the fact that it did not have coat of varnish or lacquer on it.
Confident in my choice, I came home and sanded the whole compartment of the wagon with 220 grit sandpaper to freshen the surface. There were also some minor marks that would darken too much if I tried to blend in the stain, so sanding these would help. I didn't let the stain stay on the old wood very long, just enough to blend everything together. The new floorboard was stained, but I let the stain soak in longer to get closer to the old wood in color.
I now have the floorboard in and the seat glued in place. I decided not to glue the floorboard, but let it float in the bottom to allow for expansion and contraction. When I varnish it, the varnish will seep in the cracks and hold it in place further. But for now, the seat will hold the floorboard into place as I work on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment