Laughable attempt at changing colour of dining table. Please help???

[Lizziecro]

Hi Everyone,
Just hoping there is a wise person here who can help me salvage my situation with the dining table. So here's the story:
Our recycled oregon dining table was a 'golden oak' colour, which, after 10 years, I tired of. It was bearable, but I wanted to lighten it up, take some of the reddish-gold colour out, and get a more neutral colour. (Didn't suit the current house).

So I stripped off the varnish, but found (as expected) it was that usual orangey colour oregon has. Decided to bleach it - OH MY GOODNESS!!!! It stripped all the colour out of some of the wood leaving it very light, but the grain was left the same colour as before so looked significantly worse. Decided if I applied some liming stain that might lighten the grain. Noooo. That didn't happen either.

Decided if I can't get the table to a more neutral, lighter colour, then I'll go to a more neutral darker colour. Sanded the whole thing back to the naked oregon colour, then I applied some 'Feast and Watson 'walnut' stain to take it to a dark brown. Noooo, that didn't happen either! It actually just returned to almost the exact colour I started with before I touched the thing on day 1!! (I started thinking maybe the table was trying to tell me something... but then again, I had started to get fed up, too!). So I thought if I put on a few more coats of the walnut...... nooooo. Didn't happen.

Now I have a table which is redder, with darker grain, than I originally had. Not happy Jan. Now it really won't suit the house!

Is there a limit to how much stain the table will take?
Would applying an even darker stain on top of the 4 coats of walnut be worth trying?
Should I bleach the whole damn thing and start again?
Is there an easier way (other than just buying another table) to get either a light neutral colour or a dark neutral colour?

I want to finish it with Danish oil. I'd be very grateful for any advice. Thank you.

[Master Splinter]

If you didn't like the colour when stained/bleached/restained/limed/restained, my suggestion would be an unfortunate accident involving the table, matches and petrol.

A painted finish, perhaps?

Picture of the offending table???

[jimbur]

With some timbers there is only so much you can do with stains. Pines can be the worst with their uneven take-up giving blotchy finishes. You've demonstrated why so much furniture for sale has a sprayed on varnish type finish to even up any problems like that.
Your best bet (apart from the petrol and matches) is to use a varnish which has the colour in the varnish. You might be lucky and end up with something satisfactory, but welcome to a world of pain.

[Xanthorrhoeas]

Unfortunately, it seems that you do not like the early wood/late wood figure of Oregon, nor itsnatural colour. That really makes it the wrong timber for your current needs. As already posted, a coloured varnish over the top or an oil stain (not the spirit based stains) tend to be more opaque and so will hide the essential figure and colour. However, all are pretty mucky. I suggest clean it up, make it look good and sell it on ebay or gumtree or similar and buy yourself a table in the colour that you want - or buy the wood at you want and make one!

[Lizziecro]

Thanks all. Yep, that's pretty much what I was thinking. I do like oregon, it just doesn't suit the house we now live in - although it did suit the previous house. And it was an oil-based stain I used with absolutely no opacity. I'm amazed at how well it was taken up by the grain, but not by the rest of the wood. I'm lucky that I hadn't yet done anything to the legs of the table, and seeing as (after everything I did to the top), the top still matches the legs - well... that's gotta be a good thing.

I won't try a varnish, although the idea certainly did cross my mind. Ultimately I was after the Danish oil finish. I've accepted the whole shebang, and put the first coat of Danish oil on, and I quite like the look of it - even though it still fails to be what I wanted. It's certainly given the table a sense of some depth to the grain. So things aren't all bad.

Thanks very much for your replies and advice. I suspect I'll be calling on you again.

Now.... Ebay......

[_fly_]

If all else fails, try a tablecloth that does match the house.....

[Lizziecro]

If all else fails, try a tablecloth that does match the house.....

That has certainly come to mind!