I should know better than to do this but I will any way. This is as subjective as do I use a right tilt or left tilt saw.
I am finishing some Ash cabinets. The solid material for the face frames and door frames is Quarter sawn Ash. The ply material is rotary cut. The ply material is much more “blonde” in appearance and the grain does not “pop” as it does on the solid material. I am open to recomendations as how I can emphasize the grain on the plywood material to appear more like the solid. I want to keep the finished product as light and natural in appearance as possible. I will be using a Fuhr clear topcoat.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
jb
Replies
jb,
You're asking to make what isn't there, there. So you could use faux graining techniques, or, glue up solid ash edge to edge then resaw these panels on the bandsaw and finish like the rest of the frames.
hope this can help
Thanks for your idea. I just left the shop and was able to put together a stain this evening that accentuates the pores of the grain in the rotary cut plywood material. It will take some effort but the results will be what I am looking for in a finished product. The grain is in fact there. I just wanted to bring it out and make it similar in coloration to that of the solid stock.
jb
JB, applying a pigment stain (as opposed to a dye stain) will very sharply increase grain contast in ash. This is because ash has extremely porous earlywood and very dense, imporous latewood...So, be careful. If, after popping the figure on the plywood with a light tinted stain, the plywood and the solid stock still exhibit some color contast, you're better off trying to deal with it by tinting the top coat varnish than by any further attempts to achieve balance using stain on the raw wood of either the solid stock or the plywood.
The problem you face is that you want to keep the overall piece as light in color as possible...and this means your tint range is considerably restricted...so be sure to perfect your techniques on scraps first. You'll probably get just one suck at the pump on this one. If you overshoot the overall hue you want, you'll be logging enough time on your palm finish sander to qualify for a solo license.
Jon,
Thank you very much for your input. It is much appreciated. You are exactly correct. I was having an issue which is unique to Ash and my desire to keep it relatively natural in color. I will try your suggestion on a test piece today and let you know how it turns out. It was hard to get people to understand my question in that I really didn't want to change the contrast or color of the solid material, rather I wanted to get the plywood material to match the contrast and color of the solid stock.
Thanks again. You have been a big help.
jb
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