I am refinishing an old end table with a carving in the top. It is made of oak and was covered with what looked to be old varnish. After stripping the varnish, the wood underneath is a dark brown. The color doesn’t seem to be a stain as it extends far into the wood. Could this be fumed oak?
This is relevant because I have to replace one of the legs which is broken and need to match the finish .
Thanks
Paul
Replies
Yes, if the color extends deep into the wood then I would say that it is definitely fumed.
I've only very recently started playing around with fuming Oak. You'll need to get feedback from someone else on recommended techniques and stuff. But, I've finished literally thousands of pieces of Oak furniture (three different furn. factories when I was younger) with stain and stain is definitely a surface treatment.
The fumed pieces that I've played with have color that penetrates very deep. In fact the boards are only 1" thick and having sawn into one, I can't see where there is any end to the fumed color... it goes all the way thru. Which I gotta say is pretty cool from a finisher's perspective.
Fuming with ammonia goes quite deep into the wood, and it might very well be what you've got. Try to see what kind of oak it is (red? white?) before you make the replacement leg. You'll probably need to tweak the color a bit with stain after the ammonia, but if you don't start with the right oak it can be really frustrating.
DR
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