I know it's only . .

[TEEJAY]

Well it's my first project of substance using the Domino and it is a pine bookcase - the quandry is the finish - we have a corner tv unit with finish in pine golden with a satin esapol over. I am after a similar finish and have bought Wattyl aged baltic water based stain and it looks like baby poo, so I got wattyl gloss satin stain and varnish in mahogany jarrah and it looks like dark red crap.

I am finding not lonly the wood gel bad in colour but also blotchy in finish or colour consistency.

Does anyone have a recomended stain type for this - and I can apply a satin poly at the end to get the subtle shine?

Any advise welcome.

Should finish the timber work tomorrow and tired of buying stuff I am not going to use.

[bitingmidge]

Well it's my first project of substance using the Domino and it is a pine bookcase

Now see Trev, that's the difference between you and me, when my Domino arrives, the only project of substance I'll do will be a display case for it!

Sorry, can't help with the finish question, although my preference with pine is always to go the bleach or limewash type stains. (As opposed to limewash the opaque finish that's guaranteed to chalk fade and peel)

Apply the wash-stain, rub it off, then danish oil and wax if you must. It won't match anything else, but it'll look terrific!

Cheers,

P

[RufflyRustic]

Hi TeeJay,
I'm gonna sound like a broken record but, well, here goes

UBeaut's Shellac will give you a golden pine colour, from what I've seen of wipe on poly - that may even get you a good finish colour too.

There's one thing about finish colours and having a young'un still in nappies in the house, there's not too many natural finish colours that you won't be able to match to ... well, you get my drift

cheers
Wendy

[rsser]

and the light is going to darken pine anyway.

... Long time since I finished pine but I seem to recall that spirit stains weren't recommended for the reason you found (... edit: reread your post. OK, water based no good either!).

[watson]

In for a Penny..
I reckon Wendy is right onto the finish you want.
There is a section in the Polishers' Handbook describing Tea stain with shellac and Trad wax.
If you want to make pine look like it ain't ........there's a go.

[scooter]

I had good success on a number of projects a few years ago with Cabots satin water based stain & varnish all in one.

Need to fine sand between coats as the water base raises the grain heaps.

Vital to use a good brush, & brush out carefully, as any stop starts will show as darker stain patches. Take same care to brush lightly off edges, so you don't get pooling of the finish there.

At least 3 coats is best, if the colour is right after 2 coats use their satin Crystal Clear for the final coat.

I used satin for all coats & was happy with the result; have heard of people using satin for the final coat but gloss for the rest, apparently obscures the grain less.


Good luck..............cheers................Sean

[TEEJAY]

I have some reservations about the stain in the varnish as it appears to hold the pigment in the varnish and is prone to give deeper colours in any streaks within the varnish - hence as you say scooter a good quality brush and try and remove the streaks - looks really bad in the darker colours as the streaks really show up.

Hard to describe the colour I am after - it isn't an exact copy I am after but yes I would say just putting the clear poly over the pine and with time I have a light golden colour to the coffee table and matching fish tank stand - the corner unit I am trying to make the bookcase live with is a tea colour I suppose - and for sure I have managed to get colours either side of this. But my real concern with the pigments has been the blotching of the wipe on and the streaking of the stain/varnish all in one.

Watson I do have the polishers handbook and will look into the tea stain in shellac - at least sounds interesting - I am after a consistent colour close to the other unit I have.

Thanks for the tip Pete - might look good in another application - SWMBO has predetermined the kids room colours so we'll try other stuff in other rooms - if I use pine again.

Might have a quick look at how the oils (danish etc) effect the colour on some test pieces.

[rsser]

Testing is a good move ... but it takes several months for the UV to do its business. Makes it hard.

Lowering the room lighting at night helps pieces to blend in ;-}

[Justin]

Hi Teejay,

Try Wattyl traditional teak. I did some pine tallboys with it, and it came out fairly golden in colour :

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=11996

With regards to the blotchiness, well that's pine for you. The only way I know to get an even stain on pine is to spray it on. Wind your gun (if you've got one) right back so bugger-all material gets laid down, and do it in a few passes to gradually build up an even colour all over your piece.

If you haven't got a gun, maybe try using a weak mix of shellac as a sanding sealer first up, to even out the absorbtion of the stain after that ? Never tried it myself that way though........

Cheers,


Justin.

[TEEJAY]

Justin,

SWMBO has looked at your tallboys and although they are different to our corner unit she is impressed and wishes me to try and replicate

I do have a basic spray unit.

The stain is a what base stain?



I have experimented with tea and coffee stain but do not have the caustic soda handy to do a proper job - I will persue this some more - but the colour change to the pine without the soda is very subtle - will be interesting to see what effect the addition of the soda has.



The oils danish/scandinavian etc did nothing to the colour - obviously need the addition of a dye or stain

[Justin]

Hi Teejay,

I think it's spirit based, from memory. It's just from the Wattyl "traditional" range that you can get at Bunnings, which is in a red coloured can. I think you should be able to put most finishes down over the top of it.

The leftover stain is at another property at the moment, I'll probably be there tomorrow so I'll have a look and let you know.


Cheers,


Justin.

[Tasman]

Well i will put in my two bobs worth as well...........from experience i have been restoring antiques and making furniture from recycled timbers and the golden honey colour you are talking about i have mixed the wattle spirit stains to match most colours to pretty well perfect but it can take a long time when you first start.
The two colours for the honey colour is teak and jarrah,go light on the jarrah then diluted to around 15 to 20% with thinners and you will find it will come out to pretty well exactly what you want........It works for me......

Kind Reguards Tasman