Need some advice please…
I purchased a number of board feet of Honduran Mahagony for a largish dining room table. The wood I selected was uniform in color in the rough state. However, when I planed things down to size and did some sanding what I found was that for some reason, the pieces I had chosen for the aprons were of a lighter color, almost pinkish blonde. I mistakenly assumed for some reason that it would take on a more natural ready brown color when finished. How stupid I was. I appear to perhaps have picked up a plank consisting of mainly sap wood or perhaps some Luan got into the mix…
My question to you finishers out there is how what combination of stain or die would you recommend to bring these much lighter pieces in line with what I have normally experienced which is that reddish nut brown color which takes on a lovely golden red brown color when simply oiled or varnished, which is the look I wish to achieve with this piece. Please note, I will not be using stains of any kind on the wood that has the usual look. I am too far with this thing to go out and buy another $100.00+ of wood to get the right color, along with the 180 mile round trip to get it. Please help me out freinds.
Regards, Earl
Replies
Earl,
Mahoghany oxidizes in the light and turns brownish. when you first mill it it gets a much lighter, nearly salmon color. Go back and sand some of the darker pieces and see if they don't match. Conversely you can put a piece of the sanded wood in the sun for a day or so and see how much it darkens.
I think it is unwise to darkly stain mahoghany. As it will darken over time it will go muddy brown and you'll miss all the grain highlights. I used to use Minwax wood conditioner (1lbs cut of Shellac) followed by Minwax Mahoghany stain. This will leave the wood slightly reddish. You can add a little Minwax Antique American to brown it to your taste. Conversley analine stains can be mixed to any shade you like.
At Monticelo ( Thomas Jefferson's House in Charlottesville), there is a mahoghany dropleaf dinning room table that looks like it was finished only with wax and linseed oil. It has a lovely brownish red patina. I think the effect would take many years to generate unaided. Mahoghany with only Tung Oil looks a little orangeish (pumpkin colored) over time.
I hope this rambling helped.
Frank
Hi Frank,
Thanks for the response. I too agree that Mahogany should not be stained darkly if at all. I am planning to finsih the piece in either Maloofs poly oil or Behlens master gel. Both impart an amber tone to the wood which really bring out the color. My concern is how I managed to pick out such a pale plank. I would like to have reasonable uniformity of color all round. At any rate, thanks for the tips, I'm off to the shop now to experiment.
Earl
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