You don’t need expensive wood to make a project look high-end. All you really need are the right stain and finish, applied in the right way.
Stunning Results. The display case you see here, for example, is made from poplar and birch plywood that have been stained to look like cherry. Continue through the slides to learn our stain and finish secrets.
Poplar will never be mistaken for cherry when it’s unfinished. But as you can see, a coat of “Georgian Cherry” gel stain from General Finishes will make you rethink your low opinion of poplar. Gel stain is great for poplar, maple, and pine, as these woods tend to blotch when you use liquid stain. Finish with a coat of polyurethane.
If you think making poplar look like cherry is a stretch, then you’ll be shocked to learn that you can even give it the rich, warm tones of mahogany. We used “Java” gel stain, plus a polyurethane topcoat, to get this look.
Traditional maple furniture has a rich golden-brown tone. And while maple boards are a bit pricey, you can get “Select” pine boards that look similar for a lot less. Then apply a wood conditioner to allow stain to go on more evenly, and stain it with “English Chestnut” liquid stain from Minwax.
Many people use pressure-treated pine outdoors to save money over cedar. If you’d like to disguise these boards to look like cedar, a company called Penofin makes an exterior deck stain specifically formulated for pressure-treated lumber. The finish has a greater amount of red pigment to cancel out the green color you’ll find on pressure-treated wood.
