Hi All,

I just built a nice little square foot box with through dovetails and doweled swinging top “doors” to hold all my sharpening equipment – wetstones, honing jig, burnisher, scrapers, extra blades, etc. I stained the doors with contrasting dark and light stains, and kind of wish I’d done the same with the box sides. Now, everything’s finished and poly’d. But, I realized I should have routed handholds in two sides, since it’s not that lightweight a piece, especially when filled.

So, I’m thinking of using a cove bit to rout the handholds, and am wondering if I can use the darker stain on the unfinished handholds before the poly coats, thinking that the existing poly coats on the light-stained wood surrounding the  handholds wouldn’t allow seepage, at least on the surface.

Does this make sense, or am I about to ruin my project if I do that? The wood’s poplar, if that makes any difference.

Thanks in advance for your advice,