Finishing silky oak

[tillysfurniture]

I have an old silky oak piano stool. My next project! It's a ruin... patina rating in the minus figures. So I will take all the old shellac off.

How would you finish the stool??? I want it to be a medium brown colour. Wax, Cabots satin finish, stain and something??

Thanks in advance. Tills

PS Check out my picture of the "hallmark on furniture" and let me know if you have seen anything like it.

[toolbagsPLUS]

No help on the makers mark! sorry

As for the stool, if you want to keep it authentic? brownish colour would be Van Dyke crystals. (Water soluble) then re shellac and finish with a good polish. I use black Bison.

Cheers


Steve

[tillysfurniture]

Sounds good Steve. I shall have to experiment on an old piece of silky oak. Only problem I have is with shellac. I have never used it because I have had to remove old layers of the stuff on previous, small pieces of furniture. On one little table, the top had cracked up like an old oil painting.

Is there an alternative to shellac? If not, can you give me some hints about using it?

Pity about the makers mark! It may remain a mystery. Cheers, Tills

[Geoff1153]

Wipe on poly goes well on silky oak (3 coats), perhaps over your stain of choice and followed by a buffed up wax. At least thats my newbie opinion...

[tillysfurniture]

Sounds good! But what sort of wipe on poly do you use. and how do you wipe it? And do you find that with each coat the wood becomes a little darker? I have used Cabots satin sheen with good results on darker silky oak pieces. But I suspect this is nothing short of heresy to those who kow how to apply shelac and wax. Steve is going to give me some extra help with this alternative.

Thanks for you reply... perhaps you could check out my makers marks on my first post. Seen anything like it? Cheers, tills

[Geoff1153]

I think its Minwax satin wipe on poly. Im away from home for a week so cant be sure. I "wipe it on" with a small piece of old T shirt rag. Not sure whether the wood becomes darker with repeat coats but certainly comes up better and highlights the grain. I'll post a photo when I get a chance.

I had a look at your makers mark. Very unusual. I expected it to be centered and perfectly square. I havent seen anything like it, but this is where my novice tag kicks in.
Are you sure its not apple cedar or even apple cider...

[tillysfurniture]

Would love to see a photo of some of your work. I will definitely explore the wipe on poly and will let you know how I get on with shellac.... if you are interested.

Loved you comments about my makers mark. Perhaps the entire little table was made by an amateur with a sense of humour??
Cheers, tills

[Geoff1153]

Here's a pic of silky oak (same age, from same tree) with carnauba wax on left, and wipe on poly on right.
How did you go with the shellac?

[AnselmFraser]

Hi there!

I must confess I am definitely in favour of the shellac option over a modern finish!

The most common mistake when re-staining is to leave some old bits of finish on, which means the new stain goes on unevenly. So the most important thing you can do (imho) is to make sure you get rid off all the old finish.

Then you can plough ahead with the staining.

all the best
Anselm