Folks, I’m making a sideboard for my niece’s wedding present. It is a Greg Paolini design in the Arts & Crafts style.
I can’t figure out how to finish it–I have visions of ruin.
I’m building this out of quartersawn white oak. My niece wants it darkened slightly–maybe like toast. What’s the best and least risky way of doing this?
Ammonia fuming is out. I don’t want to get kitted up. I’m not sure that an oil finish like Waterlox or Tried and True or standard untinted shellac would do it.
And I don’t want to ruin a piece I spent weeks making.
Does Zinnser Seal Coat dewaxed shellac come in different tints? That would do it and would allow for subsequent staining or coats of oil or poly if desirable. That’s my initial thinking.
Replies
Here is one method:
https://homesteadfinishingproducts.com/jeff-jewitts-mission-oak-finish/
Oak is very easy to stain, you can probably get your desired color with some oil stain and your choice of topcoat.
The easy way to avoid ruin and end up with your desired color and effect is to prepare and make finish samples.
Going forward with a finish schedule or products you are not 100% sure of is a suckers bet.
I found stain is more likely to pool in the grain and it looks uneven. I've had better luck with a dye, it's a more even color. Trying some different methods on some scrap will probably serve you well.
I have made a number of Arts & Crafts pieces of furniture and I have finished all of them the same way, based on articles that have appeared in FWW (the latest one was by Nancy Hiller, but there was another one prior to that). I think that the end result looks very appropriate for that style of furniture.
The articles are worth reading, but in a nutshell:
Step One: I use a TransTint dye stain (Reddish Brown) mixed in alcohol. You have to work fast and keep a wet edge to avoid streaking; you may decide to use water instead to reduce this tendency, but then you might have to deal with grain raising issues. This will look REALLY RED and you may think that you have ruined the piece, but Step Two will overpower the red tone.
Step Two: I use a MinWax oil based stain (English Chestnut) over that.
Step Three: I use a number of coats of MinWax Wipe-On Poly, either mixing my own about 50/50 with mineral spirits, or buying it premixed in the can.
Before you do anything, of course, test the finish on some QSWO scrap. Before finishing the first A&C style piece I made, I made about three dozen samples with various combinations of TransTint colors and MinWax stains, and the two products mentioned above were my favorite.
Seconding the test pieces - why not make a few and offer them to the couple to choose. People like that sort of attention to detail.
Personally I love white oak - definitely my favourite wood to use. I am a philistine and like it with water based poly on it.
Knowing that you took it off the table...
With all of the ways a stain job can go sideways the fuming option is the easiest way to get a nice consistent color change on a large piece in white oak. No worrying about drips, swirls, wet edges, wicking corners, grain pooling, or end grain saturation. A one-step process with no cleanup and ready to finish coat with anything you want.
If you've never tried it put a small block in some tupperware with a shallow dish of ammonia, the results are worth it. Kitting up will probably cost you less than the stain job in the end.
Thanks to all of you for your suggestions! Many of them bother me because it's so easy to have stain pool or streak, etc. I fear wasting my time and ruining my effort and work.
The only time I worked with QSWO In the past, I put on a layer of stain that I rubbed in and then removed with clean cloth. Then I put on a gel stain and did the same. Then a layer of poly. Both stains were dark colors that I tried out on sample boards. Rubbing in the stains obviated pooling and streaking and actually worked to my satisfaction. Is that a legitimate technique?
I'm addicted to oil stains because they are simple and foolproof--the ones I use are rubbed in and removed, then let dry for a day or so. Three coats like that, and the piece looks satisfactory to me. I'm looking for something like that in the stain world.
Boiled lindseed oil (oil rags are a fire hazzard); wait a 3 or 4 days reapply; wait three of 4 days then apply amber shellac.
Not specific to this project, but I have become a huge fan of prefinishing projects before assembly. That is doubly so for anything getting stained - just so much easier than trying to get into reveals and corners. Can even remake a piece if it turned out not looking good after stain (don't ask how I learned that...)
I realize that suggestion may be too late - unclear from your question if it is already assembled or not.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled