I was given a very large framed mirror that was severely stained from sitting in water. It was very labor intensive to sand it to the bare wood due to its size and weight. I used a two-part wood bleach to remove the water stain successfully.
I am unsure of what kind if wood it is made of as my wood identfying skills are lacking to say the least. I think it may be maple. It is definitely a hardwood. After the stain was applied (four applications because the stain did not penetrate the well at all) I finished it with tung oil. It came out looking great and I was pleased until I got it into the house.
Now that it is hung where I want it, the color seems too light. Now I want it to be somewhat darker to accentuate the frame. I really want to avoid having to sand it down and start over. Is there a way to darken it by tinting tung oil? I don’t want to lose the grain figuring. Is there any other product/technique that could simply be applied over the existing finish?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
CydS
Replies
There is an oil soluble aniline dye made by Mosers (available from Woodworker's Supply) that you could try. Mosers also makes alcohol and water soluble dyes, and although I've used each of these, I've never tried the oil soluble version.
And I can't say what results you'll get now that you already have some sealer on the wood. At this point, I don't know how much of a shift you can achieve since most of your next coat of oil will lay on top of the wood or get wiped away.
The product is inexpensive (maybe $10 bucks if I remember...) and it would be worth the investment and some work on a test piece just to see what results you do get.
tony b.
You can tint shellac and apply it as a top coat. Shellac flakes also come in red and brown forms (the color comes from impurities) if tinting doesn't appeal to you. Just pad or brush on the shellac in thin coats until you get the color you want. Put on too much and you can remove it easily with alcohol without affecting the underlying oil finish.
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