mixing red oak in with white oak?

[Suanne Lippman]

I am building a QSWO bookcase, with a mission stain. I hate the thought of paying for QSWO shelves when they really won't be seen anyhow. Is it reasonable to stain red oak to fit in with white oak? Anyone with experience care to relate what he did?

I just built a walnut bookcase. For the shelves I used red oak plywood with a 1" strip of walnut in front. I originally intended to stain the oak to "match" the walnut, but the contrast looked pretty good, so I went with it. Could do the same with unstained red oak and mission QSWO. Any comments?

[WillR]

If you can match up the appearance you're a lot better than I will ever=20 be. :-) But maybe that's not saying much...

Get some scrap from the same project and try it... What the heck.

Done that a few times myself -- I like the contrast as well.

--=20 Will R. Jewel Boxes and Wood Art

power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those=20 who have not got it.=94 George Bernard Shaw

[Leon]

I do it often when I am going to stain the wood. IMHO it looks fine.

When there is a bigger contrast it tends to fine. With white and red oak the color would be a bit strange as the red will tend to go from whitish to pinkish and white tends to be white. If staining I doubt you would ever notice. Left with a clear finish I would go with more contrast or the exact same wood. I would probably go with a cheaper cut of white oak on the shelves.

[Swingman]

I wouldn't worry too much about it since you're staining.

While you're at it, and because the long edge grain of quarter sawn lumber is visually distinctive to those who use it a lot, when you go through the stack of red oak, look for quarter sawn for your shelves ... if it hasn't been picked over. you can generally find some in every stack.

That should make you feel better about mixing the woods, while making your shelves a bit more dimensionally stable, and perhaps even fooling a few who would otherwise object on general principles.

[Stu]

Go for it, the thing will be full of books anyway. The difference in the color will be minimal.

[TeamCasa]

Two ideas.

1st - Veneer the shelves with QSWO. 2nd - Add a 2-3" board in the front of the shelve as you did on the walnut shelve.

Question: Mission stain, is that a fumed look? If so, I would definitely veneer, if its a wipe on stain, either way will look fine.

Dave

Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services

---------------------------------------------------------- ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **

----------------------------------------------------------

[Andy Dingley]

The only way to really know is to stain up some samples first. If you're using a fairly brutal commercial stain then they'll match well enough. If you're planning to fume it, you wouldn't have a hope. I expect you'll find it a perfectly acceptable match.

[George]

It'll never match. Which brings up the question of whether the shelves will be exposed - display shelves - or covered with books. If covered with books, get white plywood for closer color. You've either got to have real close or real contrast. Red oak is neither.

[Joe Barta]

Could you expand on this? Brutal commercial stain? As opposed to what? I'm interested in more of your thoughts on stain.

[Leon]

The stain usually found on furniture in furniture stores. The kind with the fruit wood finish and fly spot all over it. The kind that hides the wood so that you really do not know what you are getting. The kind that is usually very dark.

Instead of one that is lighter and still lets the natural beauty of the wood shine through.

[Joe Barta]

I see what you mean. Thank-you.

[Andy Dingley]

I'm a bit of a stain Nazi when it comes to oak. I never stain it - I'm a big fan of ammonia fuming and use it on nearly all my oak (which is most of my cabinetry). One of the drawbacks of fuming is that it does tend to vary between boards - and for white/red oak the difference is substantial.

If you're staining it, then a stain for "mission" can vary between light to near-Jacobean with black grain-filling wax too. The darker end of this scale will hide anything.

[Larry Jaques]

On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:58:24 +0000, with neither quill nor qualm, Andy Dingley quickly quoth:

...so why not just have him use pineywood? He'll prolly just smear poly all over it anyway. Why waste good wood for that?

-- Adults are obsolete children. --Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel, 1904-1991)

--

- Websites for children of ALL ages