Anyone have any suggestions for finishing red oak with a very rich, dark cherry-like finish? I’ll be finishing trim and a couple built-ins. Ideally, the finish would be somewhat high gloss, at least I think so. I’m going for a 1920’s look.
Any suggestions would be great!
Thanks!
Patrick
Replies
You've got a zillion options, but basically you are looking for a dye/stain and a topcoat. With Oak, I'd look more for something that is a dye or toner, as most stains with accent the very open grain of oak. I'm assuming you want it to be more reminiscent of cherry than dark oak, so you want to color the wood more than highlighting the grain.
One option is to use a dye--Water-based, NGR or other, it doesn't matter--to get the color tone you want. Most on-line woodworking supply houses (including homesteadfinishing.com) stock dyes and have color charts. Then top the dyed wood with your favorite clear finish.
Second option is, if you have an HVLP setup, use a lacquer with a toner. Given the question you are asking, I'm guessing you don't have such a set up.
Third option is to use a one-step product like Minwax polyshades, where they combine polyurethane with a stain. I find the "stain" in this product is more like a toner, so you don't accent the grain too much. The dowside is it is polyurethane and gives a polyurethane looking finish. Glossy, though. This product is available at Lowes and maybe HD.
Good luck!
Try the Minwax Sedona Red stain. I'm touching up some red oak cabinets for a customer and we had no idea of what the original stain was. I played with several colors and mixtures and was pretty close. Yesterday, I wiped on some straight Sedona Red and the dings absolutely disappeared.
If you want something even darker red, try Minwax's Redwood.
Whatever you use, leave some kind of record of your stain & finish. I try to write the info in some hidden (but accessible) place so someone else can figure it out someday.
Edited 12/22/2005 9:18 am by Dave45
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