Staining/dying Tas Oak

[Termite]

SWMBO wants some furniture, so I've decided to use Tas Oak as my material and stain/dye it a walnut colour and finish with Traditional Wax as per THE BOOK. Any advise regarding stain/dye type would be appreciate as I've not treated this type of timber before. Are there any end grain problems like you have with Radiata. Should I use the sanding sealer over a stain/dye or under it.

I have some genuine walnut small units at home but the projects that her ladyship wants would bankrupt me using the real thing. :eek:
Kind regards
Termite

[LineLefty]

:eek: everytinhg I've done has been from jarrah so far. 4 or 5 coats of oil and thats it for me. I know that one day I'll be facgn the same problem. Sorry I cant be of help though

[Justin]

I'm personally not really big on staining tas oak to a very dark colour like walnut, it just doesn't seem to look right. Ditto for applying jarrah stain, it comes up looking a bit artificial.

I've been getting pretty good results with Wattyl Craftsman stain in teak colour on tas oak, and using some leftover Feast Watson satinproof over the top. Light and medium browns look the best on tas oak, IMHO.

End grain can go dark if you're not careful. I did a finishing course a few years back and to manage this problem I was advised to sand end grain to a very high grit, and to be careful in applying the stain (i.e if you're using a rag, don't load the rag with stain right before applying it to end grain).

Hope this helps.


Justin.

[Neil]

Termite - Is the walnut you have to match dark brown or light gold in colour? :confused:

[Termite]

Neil, it's dark brown. The old genuine Black Walnut from back when it was affordable.
thanks
Termite

[Neil]

Termite - If you're feeling a bit adventurous, give potassium permanganate (Condy's crystals) a try. Mix about 45 - 50 gm with a litre of hot water. Try it on a scrap piece of the wood, it should give a very even dark walnut colour. This is a chemical dye with a few minor sied effects so read the cautions in the book before using it (page 161 in 2002 edition).

Cheers - Neil :)

[Termite]

Thanks Niel, I've tried PP on pine and get a nice dark golden honey colour , but I never thought to try it on Tas Oak. One advantage of using a chemical dye is the ability to glue over the colour.
I'll see you at Newcastle in a couple of weeks for some of your tinted Traditional Wax to finish with.
Kind regards
Termite

[jstevens]

I have made lots of furniture with tasssie oak. I have used CAbots Teak stain, which is quite light - then about 4 coats of DAnish Oil from Cabot also. The final colour is a warm golden oak with a marvellous feeling of grain and fleck from the oak. Very happy with the results so far. John in Brisbane.

[MF3106]

I've used Cabots stain mixed fruitwood & maple (about 50:50) along with Cabots Danish oil and also got a very nice light, but deep finish.

[Different]

I dont want to be too puritan about this but hers my 10 cents worth.
I dont favour grain fillers on any timber it just takes the life out of it.
Smooth yes but lifeless.
Radical staining is also a no go for me as it does not look natural.
If price is the issue with using the real thing then there are a lot of other timbers that dont cost the earth. Try NG Rosewood or even try ringing around I recently got some Euro Oak for $9 / LM for 150 x 25.
Jarrahselect sell 150 x 24 for $8.60 / LM so there are other timbers out there that nont need staining that wont cost you an arm and a leg.

[TassieKiwi]

A furniture resorer showed me a method: Use shellac as the first coat, apply PP to the level of dark that you want (adjustable with water), shellac over, repeat if required, topcoat as required. I've used this on NZ rimu and Kauri - gives a nice warm colour without obscuring the grain.

Also 100% reversible with a swipe of methohttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon10.gif