I had several questions come up after the original video was published, that I thought were good ones that also correspond with the video footage I had that didn’t make the original cut. So here is a little more information on how I stained and finished the stone, stained and finished the mahogany, and built the bent lamination form.
Affiliate Links to some of the Products I used:
TransTint dye: https://amzn.to/2St0BLi
General Finishes Spiced Walnut: https://amzn.to/2Y5zAyW
Mixed these to stain the mahogany 50/50:
General Finishes Brown: https://amzn.to/2O7cLuS General Finishes Orange: https://amzn.to/2JUaEp6
Behind the Scenes: Building My Stone Bench
Hey everyone! So about 7 or 8 months ago, I shared a video of this bench I built with an actual stone as one of the legs. If you missed it, you might want to check that out first – it’ll make this post make a lot more sense.
Since then, I’ve gotten a ton of questions about the build process, and I wanted to take some time to answer the most common ones. Let’s dive in!
Making the Stone Look “Wet”
One of the biggest questions I got was: “What did you use to make the stone look wet in the photos?”
So here’s the thing – when I first got this stone, it was pretty beat up. You know how it is when rocks get tossed around in the back of a dump truck on their way to the landscape supply yard. Not pretty.
First, I had to clean up all those dings and scratches. Wherever that beautiful, natural weathered patina got scraped off, I went over it randomly with some trans tint walnut dye mixed with water. I just dabbed it onto the scuffed areas and tried to feather it into the existing patina so it would blend naturally. I also used some General Finishes spice walnut to darken certain spots and make the whole thing look more organic.
Then came the magic part – to seal everything in, I used a satin wipe-on poly. But here’s the trick: instead of actually wiping it on, I liberally brushed it on, really working it down into all those cracks and crevices in the rock.
When it dried, it wasn’t shiny at all. It had this gorgeous matte finish that made the rock look damp – like it had rained in the forest an hour ago and the stone was slowly drying in the shade. Exactly the look I was going for!
Of course, before I did any of this on the final piece, I tested my technique on a chunk I’d split off the bottom. Always test first, folks!
The Mystery Spray Bottle
Another question that came up: “What was in that spray bottle while you were staining the mahogany?”
Plot twist – it was just plain old water!
My initial test pieces came out just a tad too dark. So instead of trying to lighten up the stain itself, I sprayed water over the whole piece and let it sit for a bit before applying the stain. The water did two really helpful things: it soaked deeper into the thirstier parts of the wood so the stain would penetrate more evenly, and it diluted the stain ever so slightly to get the color just right.
Oh, and here’s a pro tip: I applied blue painter’s tape to all the spots where I was planning to glue during final assembly. Glue just doesn’t bond well to finish, so when everything was dry, I simply peeled off the tape and had nice, clean surfaces ready for gluing. Simple but effective!
Building the Bent Lamination Form
Okay, so apparently I glossed over the details of building the bent lamination form for the arch. Fair enough – let me break it down for you.
I started with a sheet of plywood where I plotted out the leg, the benchtop, and where I wanted the arch to end. Then I drove brad nails at the start and end points of where the arch would be. Using a thin, flexible piece of wood, I bent it between the nails and played around until I found an arch shape that really spoke to me.
Since the arch is one of the main focal points of the whole piece, I took my sweet time getting the shape just right. I drew in several different arch options before finally committing to one.
Once I settled on the perfect shape, I took it to the bandsaw and cut it out. Then, to fair the curve and remove all those bandsaw marks, I used a flexible sanding strip to smooth everything out and bring it to its final shape.
Next, I screwed the template down to another piece of plywood so I could rout out the corresponding clamping blocks. This is crucial – these blocks need to be perfectly parallel to the main form. Why? Because when you’re clamping the laminated pieces in the form, you want even pressure applied across the entire piece. This prevents any gaps in the glue-up, which would be a nightmare.
I selected a router bit that was the same width as my desired finished piece, which created the right curvature on the clamping blocks.
From there, it was all about building up the form to the right thickness. I glued the template pieces onto more plywood, cut them out at the bandsaw, and used a pattern bit to match the shape perfectly.
Here’s another important tip: to prevent glue from sticking to the form (trust me, you don’t want that headache), I covered the whole thing in clear packing tape.
Then I screwed these little feet to the form to give me something to push the workpieces against and line them up properly in the form.
After all that prep work, the actual lamination was straightforward – just spread the glue and clamp everything in the form. Sometimes the setup takes longer than the actual work, and that’s okay!
I’m the owner of Benham Design Concepts, a mixed media art studio where I design and build custom furniture and other works of art using wood, glass, stone, and various metals.
In this blog, I talk about the art I create, my journey, and the things I learn along the way.