Espresso - good for the soul, not good for wood -well not the kind you are used to anyway.

http://www.target.com/p/staten-furniture-collection/-/A-13717178#prodSlot=medium_1_1

A great example of the Espresso that apparently is all the rage and very popular.  But this is not real wood.  It is a Veneer.

Veneer;

1. A thin surface layer, as of finely grained wood, glued to a base of inferior material.
2. Any of the thin layers glued together to make plywood.
3. A decorative facing, as of brick.
4. A deceptive, superficial show; a façade: a veneer of friendliness.

 Veneer is the equivalent of a Formica or laminate counter surface, only thinner,  much thinner.  Imagine Paper Mache and that little crafty session you had with your kids and the balloon - that is exactly what veneer is.  Only used with larger pieces, stronger glue and harmful chemical hardeners.


Can you make real wood look like the Espresso veneer?  Yes, sort of.

There is more involved than one coat of stain.   It takes a a few different colors and a simple little wire brush.  A dark brown is put on first, let that dry and then an even darker brown or a brown/black is put on over the dry 1st coat.  While the 2nd coat is wet, you brush it down with the wire brush.  The result is very very similar to the veneer.  You have to have a steady hand for brush strokes or it will end up looking like Edvard Munch's The Scream - which might be cool in of self. Very Artsy.

Basically you can achieve many different types of looks with this technique - like the little engraving art kits we buy our kids.  Numerous combinations, numerous design ideas  - just let your imagination go wild.

Just take a very dark opaque stain (waterstain's work best) and go over what you did on the wood and then you can brush, scratch, scrape, or engrave what you want and the bottom color rises to the surface really well. Make sure you do small areas first until you are sure to of the drying time for that second coat.  Nothing like doing the entire table top and by the time you make it to the last corner - it's already dry.  On that note, some of the water-stains dry really fast.  Basically it is the equivalent of tempera paints for kids, only for wood.  So seriously keep that in mind when using this technique. 

This is a sample that I have done for a few customers on my version of the infamous Espresso Veneer.  I aptly call this  - Espresso, real Espresso.  And why shouldn't I, I drink enough of the get up and giddy go nectar in fact I am craving a Vietnamese coffee at the moment.  I think I'll make one.   

The Dawn of the Stain

In my line of business I am forever stained.  Stained shirts, shorts or jeans (depending on how cold it is), shoes, face, hair and hands.  I do have a set of clothes that I wear to the shop on a regular basis and trust me when I say that I look like a bum, I really look like a bum.  This is on a good day.  On a bad day however, depending on the stain that I am using - I look like something from a serial killer movie.  Oh how I love working with the Varathane Cabernet stain.  It's red, it's wine'ish, it's perfect to give everyone the wrong idea.  I'm a wood worker, not a serial killer.  Sprinkle on some wood dust, sawdust and it's the instant and perfect Halloween costume.

Of course I wear gloves, most of the time.  I buy them by the box and try to keep up on having them stocked.  But there is always that odd day, when I run out of those hand savers.  So I root through my stock pile of weird things and usually find one, slightly used with no holes and I wear that one and lonely glove on my dominant hand.  Which leaves my left hand exposed to all that is gory and gooey and woodsy and pitchy. Seriously though, have you ever had a pitchy board and that pitch gets on your hand?  It works better than superglue.  Everything and I mean everything sticks to it.

So with pitch and stain on my left hand, I go through the day with one hand stained.  I run errands, go on deliveries, grocery store and usually go to the post office looking like this.  I look like something the cat dragged in.  Really, I do.

But how to get it off your hands - Dawn, a nail brush and some elbow grease.  I am the only person I know that has Dawn in the shower.  It only took one time to realize I needed something with a grip on the bottom of the tub, but I can safely say that I now have good reflexes too, now.  Olive oil, works well too - but a good scrubbing never hurt anyone and Dawn is gentle enough that I am not over doing chemicals on my body.  The olive oil tends to stick around for a little longer than I am happy with.  Dawn rinses away clean, which gives me that squeaky clean (I can hear it) as I am drying up.