I refinished the top of this drop-leaf table. I sanded it to bare wood, ending at 320 with a ROS. The wood looked like mahogany or walnut to my untrained eye. I wanted to stain to match the drawer front.
I rubbed on Minwax Dark Walnut stain. The results were quite spectacular, a gorgeous tiger stripe with real depth, especially after I topped it with some wipe-on poly. BUT IT DOESN’T MATCH THE DRAWER FRONT.
HOW COULD I HAVE STAINED IT SO THE RESULT WAS MORE UNIFORM?
Thank you. I will miss your forum.
BACKGROUND – I volunteer at a household goods recycling center. I repair and refinish some of the better pieces of furniture that are destined to be sold. I have very little experience.
The Wood Loon
Acton, MA
Replies
Doug,
Rarely can you get a color match in one shot, especially if you haven't got a little experience with it.
I could write volumes on ground coloring with dyes followed by a stain, and then a glaze to bring it all together. If you have no experience it would be like asking you to run a race when you have just started to walk. Rest assured I am not talking down to you, just offering a practical opinion.
You may consider rubbing down your poly with a maroon scotch pad,and then glazing it. This can be done using a reddish gel stain. Which one is the question. I know General Finishes Georgian cherry is a purplish color that will warm up the surface. Thin it out a little with mineral spirits and lay it on with a lint free rag. A soft brush will help "feather" it out (remove application streaks) as you go. You would need to let this dry well and then re coat it with your poly.
IMO a better idea is to leave it alone and let the person buying it do it. It will take you a fair amount of time to do it. How much do you want to spend?
Peter
Thanks for your reply. This table is a done deal. My question concerns the next time I face a similar situation. My take on your reply is that I would need to use a dye first, before I stain. I can envision how that could darken all the wood in this case. I assume (always dangerous) that the glaze could be used to further darken and/or tint the overall finish. I guess my REAL QUESTION is how could I have predicted that the stain was going to produce such a striped effect - the sanded wood looked quite homogeneous.Doug
The Wood Loon
Acton, MA
Once the wood is sanded wet it down with alcohol. That will show you what it will look like if just a clear finish is put on.
A dye first doesn't automatically mean dark nor do you automatically start with one. It's just another option. You can start with a lighter color and go from there.
You could also have put some shellac on as a washcoat prior to staining. That will help control the darkness you are seeing in the grain.
SealCoat cut in half with denatured alcohol will make your washcoat.
Peter
Ah, two excellent nuggets for me:
1) use alcohol to see the grain
2) "washcoat" to limit the deep penetration of the stain
I will try both on my next project.Thank you very much. And good luck in the future!Doug
The Wood Loon
Acton, MA
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