I’m looking for what I remember as a penetrating oil based red stain. By red, I mean right off the edge of edge of the color wheel. At the time they offered similar bright yellow, blue green etc stains. This was 30 to 40 years ago. At the time I’d put a coat of this stain on and that was it. Bright, uniform cherry red over platform beds, tables and whatever. It has lasted and not faded. I remember them as being a solvent based aniline dyes. You had to clean the brushes in mineral spirits.
Could such a stain have existed, or is my memory failing. I know there are now water based red yellow blue, stains. I got the stain in an ordinary paint store in Iowa City, not your center of exotic materials. In large paint stores in the Twin Cities they don’t even have red, yellow, blue, green stains anymore. I’m puzzled.
Peter
Replies
Look at W.D. Lockwood's web pages http://www.wdlockwood.com/main.html . You should see the pure colors you are looking for. Also look at the accent color TransFast dyes at http://www.homesteadfinishingproducts.com
Steve
Thank you for pointing the way to find it again.
Peter
Minwax makes artist color stain in a waterbased product. Go to their website and the have color sheets you can look at. Or, go to Home Depot or Lowes and they will mix it up for you.
Remember though, colors are affected by the color of the underlying wood substrate. Red on pine will look different from red on birch or oak.
Minwax product, or used to be.
After all that I found a partially filled can of Minwax "Decorator Color" Independence Red stain sitting on a shelf in the basement. It was from the mid 70's and I assume still good. And yes it contained petroleum distillates. So 35 years ago a product was made and it was easy to use, revealed the grain and didn't require a top coat. Red, blue, yellow, green were offered. It was wonderful if you were looking for a primary or something other than brown.
Now I wonder why they stopped making it. Caused your fingers to fall off, no doubt.
It's almost certainly not still good and I would remove the almost if it had been ever opened before.. The pigment may be just fine, but the varnish that is the binder may very well have problems curing adequately. Topcoats placed over it might also not dry properly as a result, or there could be adhesion problems. Such products are still made, and work just as they did before, but probably now under more specialty brands and not cheap consumer brands like Minwax. There are similar "decorator stains" even from Minwax, such as Minwax Express Colors. These are waterborne wiping stains so will be harder to use than oil based wiping stains of yore.
You can make your own wiping stain that will work like the older product. Get a light colored (Soya based) varnish such as Pratt & Lambert 38, mix it with a bit of pure tung to extend drying time, add pigment from artist's oil paints in whatever color you want, and then thin to comfortable working consistency. Proportions aren't at all critical. The larger the percentage of varnish, the less the result will need a top coat. But, with more than a smidgin of oil, you still need to wipe off excess from the surface or the result will be too soft to be a desirable finish coat.
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