Id like to stain some red oak to look like a rich dark mahogany. I can get the color with many coats of modified tung oil wipe off stain but it takes forever when having to allow to cure in between coats.
Is there a way to get a nice rich translucent red mahogany color with using a stain build up? Something that brings out the grain of th wood as a stain would?
Guitar bodies have beautiful dark colors like this usually over maple which is very lite color. How do they do it?
They use a darker stain. On maple guitars, it's usually a dye applied with a spray gun.
The good news is that you're using oak! Oak stains wonderfully, there is no need to try and carefully build color. Find a color you like and confidently try it on scrap.
An air brush and tinted lacquer toners.
Many coats of dyes,fillers,toners, and several coats of finish.
Trying to make oak look like mahogany sounds good but there really is no practical way to do this.
You can get close with dyes and stains but you are in for a long drawn out finishing schedule.
You will need a spray gun....and a lot of patience.
I would start with mahogany.
trs80 wrote:
Use a grain filler, dark gel-stains and tinted lacquer. Forget the tungoil.
Dave
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Sounds to me like you need a penetrating stain, like Watco. Even something like MinWax, which has solids in it, may get dark enough. A tung oil stain is probably just not penetrating.
I just added an oak ply end panel to a dark colored vanity (wanted to cover up the cheap hardboard panel). The oak took a custom mixture of several colors -- I actually would describe it as having almost a mahogany tint. I was mostly afraid it would be too dark.
Lee
Just putting in my two cents here.
I wouldn't use any kind of tinted lacquers as they can be really tricky to get just right. And while you may be getting the right color, you may not wind up with the amount of sealer you want. So while you apply your tinted product for color, you will be adding both more color and more sealer with every coat. That can be hard to control.
I agree with the above, and that is to dye the wood and then put all the lacquer you want on it.
I spray the Behlen's Solar Lux dyes all the time, cut by about 50 - 75% (with 99.99% alcohol) and apply it with the smallest nozzle on my gun possible. The best way to apply it is to mist on several coats, spraying in differnt patterns and directions to make sure you get it on evenly.
When I am looking for an exact color, I usually spray the dye on a test piece at the same time I am spraying the project so that I can test the color with sealer on it. The sealer will change the color and appearance quited a bit, so a good visual sample of your stain with sealer is a great idea. (Trust me on that one!)
Robert
As I told you, a toner...non-opaque color in a clear finish.
trs80 . . .
I agree with 'nailshooter' - use a DYE on the raw wood and SAMPLE, SAMPLE, SAMPLE your finish schedule. Then WAIT at least a week, before judging the result. Some reactions take a bit of time - trust me, I've been 'bitten' !!
Where I disagree is that I prefer WATER-Based dyes. Penetrate deeper & easier to 'handle'. There are many different 'Mahoganies' available. Hopefully you will find one with YOUR 'mental picture' of what *Mahogany* should look like. You may wind up getting a 'basic' Mahogany then several other colors to add 'a bit of this and a bit of that' to get what YOU want. A long and maybe costly project . . . worth it if you will be doing a lot with *that* color.
A 'quick & dirty' solution - which has worked for me - is Minwax 'PolyShades' in 'Bombay Mahogany'. {Bear in mind . . . MY idea of 'Mahogany' is the look of the transom on a classic wooden yacht !!} The first time I used the stuff I flowed it on the way the instructions said, and the way I apply varnish. Came out so dark it was almost black, like the old Duncan Phiffe dining room set my parents gave us. Since then I learned how to handle the stuff - at least for ME. a} like a 'real' stain - brush/scrub it on, let it sit, wipe off & let dry, or b}use a cheap foam brush and apply a coat, them 'brush it out' to the preferred 'color', and let dry at least
24-hours. NOTE - Minwax does NOT recommend their 'Clear' Poly as a finish for most of their dark colors {probably due to 'pick-up'}.However I HAVE used it. Just make that first coat quick & thin.Regards & Good Luck, Ron Magen Backyard Boatshop
I just tried a sample of General Finishes 'Mahogany' oil stain on maple and it got pretty darn dark red with one coat. Oak is still going to look like dark red stained oak no matter what you do to it though.
-Leuf
Boy, you said it. Of all the stuff to color correctly oak can be the worst due to its tubules. But on the other hand, with some instruction it isn't all that big of a deal.
I rarely use pigment stains anymore, and almost always use dyes and gel stains (I know, almost all of the >cheaper< gels are thickened pigment stains) to get what I want. When refinishing, I have dyed pink mahogany to look like Walnut, and Walnut to look like a classic cherry (think Federalist/Duncan Phyfe colors here).
In my experience, for absolute color and shading, I have had the absolute best success with dyes that have been properly thinned. Honestly, as long as I have been doing this type of work professionally, it surprises me almost every time I use dyes how well they work. As I said farther up, just my opinion.
Robert
ok.. thanks all. I like the idea of dyes. I play guitar and I understand thats how they get the beautiful 3d grain by using dark then color of choice analine water or alcohol dyes. Thats my next approach. thanks again
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