Oil finishing over stain

[Dengue]

Hello, can anyone please suggest a good process for getting a nice smooth oil finish on timber that needs to be stained? I often wet sand Cabots Danish Oil or use Kunos #244 oil, but that is only on raw timber. Lately I have been trying shellac as a finish.

I need to make the timber very smooth first, then stain it uniformly black with a spirit based stain, then do an oil finish. Unfortunately I don’t have any water based black stain.

The problem seems to be conflicts between the spirit based stain and any grain filler, so I am open to any ideas and suggestions

[Dengue]

Without any response so far to my question above, I have a suggestion and a question:

I have some dark brown timber with quite open grain. I want to make it black with a nice smooth satin finish so you cannot feel the grain with your nails, but still be able to see the grain.

I propose to fill the grain with an ebony Timbermate slurry, and then sand it back and apply 2 coats of Prooftint spirit based black stain.

Can anyone please recommend a finish that can go over this to give a nice smooth satin finish? I read one of Neil’s 2006 posts which says oils need to be able to interact with the timber for full effect, so it is useless putting anything under them.

I am thinking of using Cabots Danish Oil which is a weak polyurethane mix. I am wondering if that will take.

[russ57]

Must admit I'm having trouble visualising this.if it is really black, and smooth, how would you see the grain? I guess maybe very subtle shadings of black? Sorry can't help with a finish to go over spirit stain, but I understand it needs to be oil based not water or it could wash the stain out. Or is that for water stain. Unless that is the same thing...

[double.d]

Constantia Organic Finishes has a dry filler made from pure pumice that when mixed with their wood oil does a good job.
There is also a Seedlac which is a shellac based product that i have used over Wattyl stains then followed by the wood oil.

[Dengue]

As part of a test, I have applied two coats of ebony Timbermate as filler. The 1st coat left the grain feeling obvious to the finger nail brushed across the board. After the 2nd layer , the board was then quite smooth, but at a pinch you could still feel the minute grain. Either due for another coat or the 240 /400 grit paper was pulling the Timbermate out of the grain pores.

I then applied three (3) coats of Feast Watson black Proof tint, but still cannot get the timber true black, as seen in the pics. Any suggestions here please? The white rag shows the excess wiped off after 5 minutes, showing most of it has sunk into the timber.

russ57 the pics quite clearly show the grain

I am thinking I might have to use a darker timber and then stain that to get true black finish

Any suggestions on getting a true deep black finish please?


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[homey]

Hi Joe,

Just spotted this. What I do is mix a little Indian Ink (shellac-based from the local art supplies shop) into my shellac. Makes a lovely black shellac. You can buy “black shellac”, of course - Liberon makes one:
Black Polish: Furniture and Interior Woodwork French Polishes | Liberon wood cares (https://www.liberon.co.uk/product/black-polish/) which can be bought from Graeme Brown Antique Supplies in Melbourne. I just use Neil’s Hard Shellac with Indian Ink. This is the one I use: Winsor & Newton Drawing Inks | Eckersley's Art & Craft (https://www.eckersleys.com.au/winsor-newton-drawing-inks-14ml)

Brian

[Dengue]

Sounds the way to go, thanks Brian, really appreciate it. I have just applied my 4th coat of Prooftint. Definition of madness? Feast Watson tech guy says should only need one flooding coat applied with lambswool applicator, lots of Prooftint, and don't wipe off.

What ratio of shellac / ink mix do you do?

[homey]

Hi Joe,

I think it depends on the strength of your shellac. I just wing it. I take a small amount of shellac in a container and add Indian ink drop by drop, testing as I go. It doesn't seem to need much.

Brian

[Dengue]

Thanks Brian, I was concerned it might be a 25-75 mix or something like that, as this shellac based Indian Ink is not cheap. Last bottle in Townsville sold last week, will have to go online to order it.