I am completing a built-in bar of African mahogany and have obtained plinth and moldings that have highly figured carving with much negative surface. My attempts to stain such in the past resulted in dark blotches in the negative surface areas with poor results. Is there a trick here, or would a wood pre-finish solve this problem? Thanks!
Replies
I think some nice shellac really gives great color to mahogany. If you mix your own you can get all sorts of color in shellac if you want it darker.
Thanks John_C2
If it's not completely assembled, finish the project first then assemble.
Thanks Mikaol
A conditioner (like a thin wash of shellac) should help control it a little...
Another option is to use a smaller tool to apply smaller, more controlled amounts of stain.
I carve mahogany a lot and have stained it a few times in the past to bring out those dark spots. If I want an even color or finish, I will use a colored top coat, like John_C2 has suggested.
The Mantle I show here is just shellac. I used Zinsser orange shellac, thinned it to about a 1# cut and put it on as evenly as I could. Three or four coats a day, with a day or two to cure in between the first few days, and later coats got longer time in between.
The last piece I did, I finished with the old 1/3 varnish, 1/3 BLO and 1/3 Mineral Spirits. IT looks really nice. A much 'softer' looking finish, of course. It has less of the applied topcoat look. I am afraid I don't have pictures of it yet....
Beautiful.
There is almost nothing more thrilling than seeing the first coat of shellac going on mahogany.
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