I’m going to be mixing my own stain for some cabinets I’m making. Everything I’ve read in FWW and online about mixing your stain involves some combination of mineral spirits, boiled linseed oil (or tung oil), japan drier, and pigment. While playing around with colors, I found that the color I’m looking for is simply burnt sienna thinned with mineral spirits. I tried it on some scrap and found that when shellacked and varnished it’s exactly what I want. From previous experience I know BLO will change the color slightly, so I’d like to omit it if possible.
Anybody ever apply a stain that’s simply oil colors thinned with mineral spirits? I don’t see why it wouldn’t work, I just want to get some more opinions before I try it on my cabinets.
Matt
Replies
Matt , depending on the volume of stain you are mixing , the linseed oil gave the old pigment stain almost like a link to hold it all together , a small amount is all we added , it was part of the color . As long as your tinting compound is compatable with the mineral spirits it will most likely work without the oil for a small amount but try a spoon full it makes the stain spread easier .
regards , dusty
If you like the color with just the pigment and mineral spirits, go ahead and use it that way. The problem might be that getting the stain to flow smoothly and color evenly may be impared. Test it on some scrap material of sufficient size to see how it handles.
BTW, pure, real tung oil is quite a bit less amber. You might want to try that. But, because tung oil is such a slow curing oil, you might need to use a drop of Japan drier to speed things along.
I would be concerned that there would be insufficient binder with oil paints just thinned to stain consistency with mineral spirits. I would consider adding a little alkyd/soya varnish to the mix, eliminating japan drier, and cutting back on the amount of oil. Varnish does dry pretty quickly, complicating application significantly unless you do stick with some oil in the mix.
Thanks for the advice guys, I'm going to try adding just a bit of boiled linseed oil and then use that on a larger piece.
Mixing your own stains sure is more fun than just buying them!
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