So I'm reskinning my cabinet and making a new canopy. I'm ordering everything I need from a cabinet place and then finishing it myself. I'm going to wait to see how good the grain looks before I decide if I am going to stain it or just put a clear coat on it. Has anybody worked with hickory before? One guy told me that the best way to stain it was to use a coarse sand paper to essentially score it and then apply the stain.
I haven't worked with it in over 20 yrs...but...IMO.The coarse sandpaper sounds wrong and would "scratch" it so when you stained it would have a very grainy look scratched look and one would have to be extremely careful to go with the grain on every stroke.Seems to me it would be treated like most other woods and sanded lightly to get rid of the mill glaze so the stain can absorb.
