I am creating a cabinet made primarily of red oak. However, I wanted the drawers to have that quartersawn oak grain pattern so I used QS white oak for them. Now it’s not too late to make the drawer fronts out of red oak but I was hoping there was a way to stain or treat the white oak to have that same color.
I’ve attached a picture of the cabinet doors that have been finished as well as one drawer front. The finish is a coat of linseed oil followed by three coats of garnet shellac. (I didn’t put on the shellac on the drawer fronts because the color was so brown – I just didn’t see the point)
Can you give me any suggestions on how to match these woods together?
Thanks.
Replies
Given that your red oak doors are already finished, your best bet is to forget about using the white oak and just get some quartersawn red oak for the drawer fronts. QS red oak is not as commonly available, but a good supplier will have it or can request it from a mill.
Getting a better color match between the two is not impossible, but it's a whole lot more work: you'd have to bleach the white oak first (with a two-part A/B bleach) to get rid of its natural yellow/brown tones, then sneak up on the pinkish tones of the existing finished red oak by applying dye stains, and then your oil and shellac finish. Another alternative would be to use a toning lacquer and/or glazes to get the colors closer together, but that choice requires using a spray gun, and it's a learned talent. If you've never done it before, trying it for the first time on a finished project wouldn't be a good idea.
Edited 11/21/2006 6:45 pm ET by Bill Duckworth
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