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I have stripped a dark oak table, but the open grain still is very dark, which is in high contrast with the closed grain after bleaching with A/B bleach. It must be that i have been unsuccessful in getting the finish out of the open pours. Thus, the bleach could not reach the color to bleach it. I don’t want to stain the whole peice nearly as dark as that color, but want a golden brown. I have tried ammonia fuming without any successful resultant darkening – probably because I have extracted all of the tannin(?)Any suggestions? Should I use filler to cover over the very dark open grain so that the contrast will be less, and then stain to desired darkness? Gary Glahn
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Gary,
I think you've pretty much given yourself the answer on this. For maximum control of the color and look (grain contrast) I would stain the table with your choice of methods, then seal the surface with a couple of thin coats of shellac. Be sure to take the color of the shellac into account when testing for a pleasing result. Then I would use the wood filler, tinted to come as close to the main color as you choose to make it. I would probably put on one more thin coat of shellac after the filler had dried and been sanded to provide a more uniform seal for the subsequent top coats of finish.
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