Alternative to Varathane?

[garym]

Hi all.

I would like to have a crack at building something like this:

Storage Chest / Coffre de rangement « Atelier du Bricoleur (menuiserie) (http://atelierdubricoleur.wordpress.com/category/storage-chest-coffre-de-rangement/)

and the finish calls for 4 coats of Varathane (cabernet) which seems to be unavailable in Australia.

As the medium is MDF I would prefer not to stray too far from his approach as it looks pretty damn good.

Any thoughts about what would be a reasonable alternative (it seems to have a soya oil base)?

Cheers,

Gary

[NCArcher]

It's just a dark stain. I'm sure you could find something similar from Cabots or Wattyl.

Several coats of the Jarrah or Cedar in the oil based may do the job.
Cabots - interior products - furniture & trim - interior stains - cabots.com.au (http://www.cabots.com.au/interior/furn_int_stains.asp)

[garym]

It's just a dark stain. I'm sure you could find something similar from Cabots or Wattyl.

Several coats of the Jarrah or Cedar in the oil based may do the job.
Cabots - interior products - furniture & trim - interior stains - cabots.com.au (http://www.cabots.com.au/interior/furn_int_stains.asp)

Thanks, yeah I suppose it is, but I have only achieved mediocre results in the past when trying to stain MDF and this one looks like such a good job that it sort of implies it is a better product for staining MDF. Oh well, I'll give it a go again on some scrap and see how I go. Cheers.

[Master Splinter]

Stains can go blotchy on MDF; you may also like to pre-prime the MDF with a thin coat of shellac first to help control blotchyness or try a gell type stain.