Replies

1. 
   Rob_Millard | Sep 11, 2001 01:30am | #1

   *
   My specialty is inlayed furniture, so I have experimented with many ways to finish them. As you know the trick is to darken the mahogany without affecting the inlays. Chemical stains are the most often cited way to accomplish this. One common method involves potassium dichromate, which is poisonous, so I avoid it. Another is lye, which works quite well, or lime, which works very well, and is not as hazardous. Another way is to use standard aniline dyes, after first sealing the inlays with shellac or brushing lacquer. This is at best risky, although I’ve had people tell me they’ve done it successfully, I did not like the results, as the dye leached into the inlays, even though I sealed them carefully. While I use hide glue for everything, I do use white glue to put down inlays, because it helps prevent any dye from leaching under the inlays. Now I, seal the inlays with brushing lacquer, and follow this with Trans Tint Dyes mixed in Tried and True Danish oil (both available from Homestead Finishing Products). I use the cordovan with a touch of lemon yellow and sometimes bright red. This goes on without raising the grain, and provides an outstanding color, with very little chance of bleeding into the inlays. If the inlays are satinwood, I will dye the table with a satinwood colored aniline dye, before putting the oil/dye mixture on. This gives the golden undertone, to the mahogany, which is so appealing. From the look of the table you are talking about, it appears to have been only given a clear finish. I have attached a photo of a Pembroke table I made finished the way I just described, only this one had holly inlays, and I had to skip the satinwood colored dye.The table looks lighter than it was in person, because I over exposed the photo.

1. 
   Rob_Millard | Sep 11, 2001 03:27am | #2

   *Actually, now that I see the photo after scanning it, it looks darker than it did in person. My photos are invariably poor.

1. 
   Bill_Sutton | Sep 11, 2001 06:12pm | #3

   *Rob - Thanks for your response. Apparently the brushing lacquer does a good job in sealing the inlays judging from your photo. I have used shellac to seal inlays, but they still were darkened somewhat by the mahogony stain. Does the Tried & True oil build a durable finish? My only experience with Danish oil is Watco. Although I liked the finished result, it is not durable, lasting only a few years. I have also made my own mixture of quick drying varnish, turpentine, and linseed oil which builds pretty nicely and seems more durable. Could you (or should you) shoot a few coats of lacquer over the oil?

1. 
   Rob_Millard | Sep 12, 2001 01:02am | #4

   *The oil/dye mixture only colors the grain, and highlights it. I found the brushing lacquer, easier to control, than shellac, but man does it stinkI left out the part about topcoats. I use shellac, on the legs and aprons, and varnish on the top of my furniture. I also fill the grain on tops, and since satinwood is somewhat open grained, and third coat of sealer is necessary to prevent the filler from lodging in its pores. The inlays on the table in the photo, remained almost pure white, so white in fact that I used dark shellac to tone them down a little.