Stain and Clear Finish

I'm going to use some stain and follow that up with three coats of clear. The color of the stain is called Champagne and should give my project a slightly darker color. And the clear is Satin so it's subtle but will protect the box against toys and who knows what else. I also bought a new brush to apply the clear with.
 

Some Changes

I decided to make a couple of changes: The first is relocating the lid support so it keeps the lid open. By moving the bracket upward so the arm is straight should keep the lid from moving, despite it only opening 90 degrees. The good news is that it worked, but now I have a screw hole that is visible (arrow). The other hole is under the bracket so no big deal. I'll address this issue later
 

I was talking to a friend at work the other day telling him how I just finished this toy box. After telling him how large it was he told me that he had one when he was a kid. And then he told me that he use to get inside it, just because he could. I asked him how old he was at that time and his answer was around five years old.

Well that's all I needed to here because I could just see my granddaughter doing the same thing, so now it's time to put two vent holes in the back panel just in case she or someone decides to climb inside and hangout.

This is looking inside the box. I plan on putting two one inch holes back there.

I did some testing on a scrap piece first just to make sure I don't get any tear-out. What I plan on doing is using a one inch hole-saw but I've had times in the past when the saw breaks through it tears up the surface on exit. What I came up with is to drill a 1/4" pilot hole through first. Now most hole-saws use a 1/4" drill that helps guide you as you cut. And knowing this is the reason I drilled my holes first. Then I'll go half way through from both sides (line on the hole saw), virtually eliminating the tear-out problem.
 

I used an acid brush to apply my first coat of clear but I didn't like the results. The next day I used a small paint brush that worked much better for a total of three coats, with light sanding between each coat. This was something I should have done earlier, but better late than never.