Tung Oil

Oil finishes soak in and harden. Adding more won't work well since it won't soak in. A bit might stay on but very little. Ditto stain. You didn't say what color the thing is now but your best bet - short of refinishing or paint - is colored wax.

Second thought...you could use a toner which is a clear finish like varnish or lacquer with a transparent coloring agent.

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A gelstain should be fine.

I guess you would call the color of dresser a Honey Maple. My wife is thinking that she would like it to be a mahogany or mocha color. Would this be possible with a gel stain?

Thanks, CR Junk

snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

Yes. Clean it well first with mineral spirits, or naptha, in a well- ventilated room. Maybe a quick surface sanding with 320 or so. It may take more than one or two coats of the gel stain.

The colored wax trick is for smaller increments of color change...

Patriarch

Should I just use something like an old t-shirt to scrub the wood with mineral spirits and then wait until it dries before sanding and staining?

Thanks, CR Junk

IIRC Formby's Tung Oil _Finish_ is a wiping varnish. It will seal the pores in the wood so that there is nothing to trap the pigments in ordinary stains.

_Toning_ would do the trick for you. That means using a colored top coat such as shellac of the approriate hue. In addition to stains, doesn't MinWas make colored topcoats, basicly colored versions of their water-based polyurethane/ploy acrylic varnishes?

snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net wrote in news:1133188942.573798.243220 @g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

That's usually what I use. A white one.

Patriarch

Some people use a squege to apply gel stain. A cheep paint brush can also be used. Gel stains can be messy. Practice on some other substrate first. I hate Gel stain, but it probably is your best choice. If not properly applied it can look like hell. Thin multiple coats are good. However, I've gotten great results on alder with a cherry gel stain. I've just recently seen a door gel stained and it looks like someone smeered ...well... gel stain all over it. Not a very positive response, but I wanted to let you know it is a little tricky to use.

Thanks for all the advice!

CR Junk