I am in the process of building a crib for my soon to arrive granddaughter but am stumped by my daughter’s desire for it to be gray, which I understand is very fashionable in today’s designs, but the gray stains I’ve tried are more brown than gray. The crib is made from maple so a pretty neutral wood, but I haven’t achieved the gray tone she desires. I generally avoid stains because they often cause more problems that they are worth and I prefer to choose the wood to achieve the desire color but I can’t do that this time. To date I’ve tried General Finishes Graystone and Graphite Water-based stains. I will be spraying General Finishes Satin Water-based Clear finish as a top coat. The wood has been sanded to 220 then the grain raised and sanded with 360 before finishing no prestain was used.
Any suggestions are appreciated
Replies
W.D. Lockwood makes a grey dye. I haven't used it but you could give it a try.
I'd be leery of adding all kinds of chemicals to a crib. Try to convince her that a simple finish is safest.
Sycamore - and possibly maple - is said to be reactive to fuming with (I presume) ammonia to produce a grey colour known as harewood. There are also "harewoods" made with holly and other pale woods that are rendered grey with vegetable dyes or iron sulphate.
These would not look painted but neither would they look the current fashionable grey that your daughter possibly desires. The grey will vary with the grain of the wood and whatever is in it that reacts with the ammonia or iron sulphate to cause the greyness.
Lataxe
Don't sand too fine, or the stain will tend towards blotchy.
I've used a number of gray stains from Varithane and Minwax recently with good results. My daughters like the gray thing too....
You could also add blue tint to brown stain to make gray.
Mikaol
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