Not much . . .

HW joined the two countertops of our chests of drawers with glue and biscuits a week or two ago, and the other day I was able to sand everything down, fill with wood putty where needed, and apply the first coat of stain.

I was ready to go in and apply the second coat, when I realized that the wood had absorbed much more of the stain than the drawer fronts had, and was even darker than the mahogany sample I had to use as an "aim-for-this" guide. So I rejoiced at the beauty of the stain, and applied the (what I thought was the only) coat of varnish.

I think, although there's not really a way to confirm this, I had opened the grain on the countertops a lot more with all the aggressive sanding. The wood on the drawer fronts had not needed nearly as much sanding, even though it was with the same grit paper, so I think they took less stain because the grain wasn't as open after a "light sanding". As a result, the countertops will be a little darker, but since they're in a different plane of viewing anyway, I don't think it'll be a huge deal. It's still real purdy.

Figuring the whole process was going even better than the drawers went, HW and I went out yesterday to look at the top and admire the work. The grain was still too rough on the top! Guess what that necessitated? A light sanding, and a second coat of varnish. Exactly what I DIDN'T want to do. And I couldn't do it yesterday. It was too late in the day to start and I knew it would go badly with the high temperatures and humidity.

So this morning, I went out while it was quite bearable, sanded it down, cleaned the brush and everything around me free of cat hair (I hoped), and with trepidation, applied the second coat of varnish. It went on just like the second coat of varnish on the drawers. Crappy. UGH. After messing with it and messing with it, I finally gave up and left it alone. Hopefully it'll dry better than it look right now. I won't know until tonight, more than likely.

This is why I plan on using tung oil for the top coat of the mahogany for our vanity.

I hate varnish.