Last weekend, Matthew, Drew and I started staining the wooden panels of the antique pupil's desk I bought a year ago.  Watched some videos online about how to do it, went to Lowes to get the stain, varnish, brushes, etc., and tried it out.

It was a busy shop that day, as my friend Mike was also working on our CNC machine.  Since we needed a little space and some good ventilation, we did the staining outside.

Worked well!

We also learned that if you get a drop of stain on your skin, then soap, water, rubbing alcohol, and a power sander will take the stain off.  ;-)

The end result looks good so far!  Note the original color/condition of the wood beneath the two recently sanded and stained panels... 

Should look great once they're put back together with the metal parts of the desk.  Now we have to figure out how to strip paint off metal, resurface it, and repaint it too.