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I have just built an island for a walnut kitchen that my customer says is probably between 10 and 15 years old. My problem is helping the client achieve a decent match with the new work, which is, in its natural state, already quite a bit darker than the existing work.( the client has owned the house for only 4 years,and doesn’t know the finishing history of the kitchen). The old work looks as if it had been given a coat or two of oil long ago, and nothing else…there is no visable top coat, however, all of the cabinets are quite reddish in color. To sum up, it looks as if the walnut has both lightened and turned red over the years, presenting us with a very difficult finishing problem. Of course the work might have been given a reddish pigment fifteen years ago, but is it normal for walnut to lighten so much? (the insides of the doors are similar in color and shade) Any Ideas?
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I would ask about the cost of my experimenting with dye colors on walnut prior to stepping into a confident contract. I've been driven nearly mad by, "that's not quite it!"
AND CONTACT YOUR LOCAL EPA REP FOR INFO ON WOOD OXIDANTS, if your inclined that way, for your safety and the enviroment's.
*Bob,FWIW, when I first started my custom cabinet business, I took on a contract to build some cabinets to match the solid Cherry mantle piece that was about 30 years old. Took me over 40 hours just to get the match. That is a mistake I never repeated. There is an article in the April issue ofi Fine WoodWorking(No. 148) by Jeff Jewitt that might be helpfull.Dano
*Pay attention to Dano. While a good finisher can match the current color, the color between the two will continue to change over time. Dyes and stains fade over time while the wood itself contiues to change.Walnut, by the way, is one wood that gets lighter as it ages.
*Woodworking studios, Dano and HowardThanks all for your responses. Not to worry, I provided the work "unfinished." I told my customer that I would "help with the finish,"and this is the form that help is taking. I've suffered painful hours matching colors and finishes, from back when I used to do a lot of antique restorations. I will still occasionally take some repairs that I like the look of, if you know what I mean, but now I pretty much stay away from the finish part. I was hoping to learn about anything specific to walnut, so I was pleased that Howard confirmed for me what I saw in this kitchen, but didn't quite believe, namely, that walnut lightens over time. Elsewhere on this board someone said they thought that walnut could turn red over time. I thought that was curious. Then I thought this: these kitchen cabinets look to me like someone put on one coat of danish oil and then walked away fifteen years ago. So will danish oil redden ? If not what topcoat would ? ............................Bob
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