I just finsished building an a mission-style oak wainscoat facing for a snack bar front between the kitchen and dining area. I stained it with Minwax Golden Oak and several pieces have a little “wilder” dark grain pattern than I’d like.
How can I subdue that? Can I use an artists oil paint in a lighter color (a light umber) to rub into the darker grain to lighten it? Any other ideas.
Also, several areas of the 1/2 ” oak plywood in the wainscot panel area turned out to have no grain at all, and I was wondering about using a darker (thann the background) artists oil cclor to add some “faux finish” graining in those areas.
Will a polyurethane varnish cover those artists oil colors OK?
Thanks.
Dave
Replies
Last things first. Yes, a varnish will be ok over the artists oils, but remember artists oil paint cures very slowly so don't rush it. Should be traditional resin varnish, not poly, since some (lower priced) artists colors do have wax as a filler.
Other materials often used are fresco pigments, mixed with a binder like thinned varnish for reasonable fast curing, or with BLO for slow curing if you want to have plenty of working time. The advantage is that you know exactly what the binder is.
Experiment on samples since this can get tricky but is certainly do-able.
Edited 1/11/2006 12:08 am ET by SteveSchoene
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