I was hoping someone here had some insight on a color I am trying to achieve. I’ve seen it online at furniture stores and for flooring, described as “graphite on oak.” For example:
http://www.extreme-design.co.uk/extreme_graphite_oak/extreme_graphite_oak.php
http://www.designpublic.com/shop/blu-dot/5425
It’s a dark, flat stain/pigment/dye that still shows the grain. I can’t find any information online, the best I can come up with is using powdered graphite in some way? Can anyone lend any insight on what this finish is, or how to achieve the look? I’m sure I could just get a comparable stain, but I haven’t been able to find one with this exact tint yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
'Graphite' as a description is almost certainly a marketing term-- the colour could as easily be described as 'brown grey' or 'grey brown', but neither of those descriptions have much snap to them. The pieces your links send us to are either batch or mass produced so the finish is likely to be something like a sprayed lacquer over dye. The grain isn't filled and the open texture of the oak doesn't have any obvious pigment lodged in it, so it's not stained with pigment stain.
To start trying to achieve a similar look use black dye at about 70% or so full strength. There's also a hint of brown in there, so you might add about 5% to 10% of a Van Dyke brown (aka walnut dye) to your mix so that you can do the initial colouring in one go. You can also do the job in stages, starting with either the brown or the black and following up with the other. You'll have to play around with the colours to get the balance right.
You could use either water based dye or spirit based, whichever you prefer. I'm assuming you know the basic principles of applying either water based or spirit based dyes so I won't go into a description of that, although water based dyes can have a bit of an issue getting down into the open pores of coarse woods like oak, which a few drops of washing up liquid can ameliorate.
The top coats are probably a lacquer as I said, either pre-cat or something like a post-cat lacquer. It's highly likely at least one of those lacquer coats was tinted with a compatible dye, eg, brown and/or black at a proportion of about 5%- 20% dye to lacquer. It's quite possible that all the lacquer coats were tinted, and with sprayed lacquers you're generally restricted to a maximum of three coats. I routinely apply three coats on coarse textured wood-- the first, a light coat of lacquer thinned about 15% or so, in a wet film of about 50-70 microns to seal the open pores followed by two regular coats applied at the norm of a wet coat at about 125- 150 microns each to finish off. Slainte.
Richard,
The thought of actually using real graphite is intriguing. Especially on an open pore wood like Oak. If combined in a dominant ratio with a grain filler, and then back scraped, it would seem to be an interesting effect even though the "oak" color would still be dominant.
Have you ever done anything like this? Would there be any contraindications regarding safety or finishing?
Thanks
Boiler
"Have you ever done anything
"Have you ever done anything like this?"
No Boiler, and I bet you could use a dark or grey earth pigment, or even water soluble powder paint instead of graphite to colour up a neutral coloured grain filler instead of graphite and get essentially the same look. I have modified grain filler like this quite a few times, and I've also made my own grain filler from plaster of paris and water soluble powder paints. Slainte.
I've not done this either, but I wonder if actual graphite is a good thing, given how slippery it is. You've already gotten some good advice.
You might also consider Mica powder as an additive to a glaze for a little reflective "luminocity". Might work, under a toned finish perhaps, though not without a lot of testing. I can also imagine a pretty awful result if everything weren't just right.
I've messed around quite a bit with using graphite on wood. Especially on oak or ash, the metallic sheen is very appealing. However, getting some sort of finish coat to stick is probably difficult and is an aspect that I never fully explored. I simply waxed my surfaces. The wax sealed in the graphite just enough so as to not be messy when handling the piece. I don't think this "finish" would be appropriate for many pieces of furniture. The things I did this on were all sculpture... items not meant to be handled except when moving them about for storage or display.
Still, I can't think of another way to achieve the look that graphite will provide and it could be worth more experimentation. Steve's suggestion of mica sounds interesting.
Sapwood,
I work with mica powders quite a bit although I don't have a black. There is one called antique silver that is a good mid gray that with a little tinkering may be darkened.
They are quite stable and mix well into most glaze mediums. My personal preference in a glaze is to have a high degree of thinner to a small amount of binder. I've found this ratio keeps the glaze from "drowning" the mica's luminescence
I've also used them in shellac, lacquers, varnishes and wax.They are quite versatile and some are exterior rated. I think there are 30-40 different colors available. I once used the color magna pearl in a glaze over a blue painted mantle in my house. It gave it a beautiful soft mother of pearl type glow. Simple to do too.
I can tell you one detriment to them. I was working with them on a job and when done went straight to a game I was playing in. I hit the locker room with some on my hands, cheeks and forehead. The normal insults were particularly sharper and creative that day!
When using them remember, a little goes a long way.
Peter
Good info
Peter, thanks for this information. I will certainly explore this material a bit. My wife once used some glittery/shimmery stuff on her head and shoulders for a "dress-up" party we attended. Would that spray have included the same mica powders you used? Perhaps the spray could be used in finishing wood to good effect. ..... just thinking out loud
Sapwood, Not sure what the spray stuff has in it but it could be mica. Hope you put some on too.Spraying is just one way to work with it. I've used it on some samples this year and came up with a few new techniques. Serendipity as it were. On one I was playing around with a piece of quilted maple nearby. I found I could recreate the chatoyancy of the quilting on a piece of cherry that was previously coated with shellac. That was fun. I did a couple of poplar panels with a sort of mother of pearl look.
A main use of mica is called flash gilding. This is a quick and cheap way to give objects a leafed look. Simply prepare the surface, size it (this is the adhesive for the powder), and using a covered finger tip or a soft brush apply the powder to the size. Lightly brush off the excess and you'll be amazed at what you see. Somewhere in the archives you may find a blog by David Heim who worked for FWW. He did a decorative piece, I think it was a pear, that opened. It was a reproduction of an old English piece. I sent him some mica powder and some size so he could flash gild the interior. He was happily surprised at the results.
Working with decorative powders in coatings is far from a new idea. Do some research on Vernis Martin and you'll see what I mean.
Peter
Sapwood, Not sure what the spray stuff has in it but it could be mica. Hope you put some on too.Spraying is just one way to work with it. I've used it on some samples this year and came up with a few new techniques. Serendipity as it were. On one I was playing around with a piece of quilted maple nearby. I found I could recreate the chatoyancy of the quilting on a piece of cherry that was previously coated with shellac. That was fun. I did a couple of poplar panels with a sort of mother of pearl look.
A main use of mica is called flash gilding. This is a quick and cheap way to give objects a leafed look. Simply prepare the surface, size it (this is the adhesive for the powder), and using a covered finger tip or a soft brush apply the powder to the size. Lightly brush off the excess and you'll be amazed at what you see. Somewhere in the archives you may find a blog by David Heim who worked for FWW. He did a decorative piece, I think it was a pear, that opened. It was a reproduction of an old English piece. I sent him some mica powder and some size so he could flash gild the interior. He was happily surprised at the results.
Working with decorative powders in coatings is far from a new idea. Do some research on Vernis Martin and you'll see what I mean.
Peter
Sapwood,
Sorry for the double post I tried but could not delete it.
That's OK
No problem with the double post. I usually have to read things twice anyway. I'm somewhat new to gilding (meaning I've got a LOT to learn) and really like the possibilities it brings. The powders sound like fun. Thanks again.
Gray Dye on Oak
The term Graphite in this case is nothing but a marketing tool. I'll bet anything that there was never any real graphite near those pieces, and it's just dye under the matte lacquer.
Of course it doesn't mean that some interesting finish can't be had by experimenting with graphite, but believe me, the commercial firms turning out your "Graphite on Oak" pieces are not playing that game.
David, Graphite may be the new "espresso" color. That espresso color iswas all the rage recently. You'd see it in catalogs everywhere. W.D.Lockwood has a silver gray dye that creates an interesting look. That with a combination of another color may be close to it
Peter.
maybe...
Judging from the photos (and I admit that's not easy) I'd say that it's pre-dyed veneer, either rift-sawn red oak with pre-dyed gray, or even one of the reconstituted veneers. Pricey but very sophisticated and uniform in color.
Like this stuff, for instance -
http://80.233.167.63/index.php/en/products/tabu/100/ozols.html
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