I recently built a Stickley inspired chest of drawers. It is made from
Chestnut Oak. I fumed the project with ammonia and it turned the wood a nice
brown/gray appearance. I am pleased with the color. Unfortunately, one of
the drawer fronts had lots of sapwood. At the time of construction, I didn't
know that sapwood would react differently. (lesson learned)
I want to try to match the one mismatched drawer front. I wiped on a coat
of Minwax Special Walnut. It looked pretty good on a scrap piece, so I went
ahead with the drawer front. I am not happy with the color match. It has too
much brown and not enough smoky gray/black.
What would be a logical approach to achieve a more uniform look? I was
thinking about trying Minwax Jacobean.
If it matters, I plan to put an oil finish on the project after I get this
drawer problem resolved.
Thanks,
Brad
Hi George,
I think I must have been confusing in my original post. Sorry about that.
Only one of the seven drawer fronts had sapwood. Thus, I want to match the
one bad drawer to the others. What are my options in staining? I have
already used an oil based stain on the bad drawer front to try to fix it.
Can I use a water based dye on top of an oil stain? Or do I need to stay
with an oil stain. Logic tells me to avoid any water based dye at this
point. Do you know a dye that would produce a dark gray color?
Thanks,
Brad
"George" <george@least> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Do only the other drawer fronts?
>
> "Brad" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > I recently built a Stickley inspired chest of drawers. It is made from
> > Chestnut Oak. I fumed the project with ammonia and it turned the wood a
> nice
> > brown/gray appearance. I am pleased with the color. Unfortunately, one
of
> > the drawer fronts had lots of sapwood. At the time of construction, I
> didn't
> > know that sapwood would react differently. (lesson learned)
> >
> > I want to try to match the one mismatched drawer front. I wiped on a
coat
> > of Minwax Special Walnut. It looked pretty good on a scrap piece, so I
> went
> > ahead with the drawer front. I am not happy with the color match. It has
> too
> > much brown and not enough smoky gray/black.
> >
> > What would be a logical approach to achieve a more uniform look? I was
> > thinking about trying Minwax Jacobean.
> >
> > If it matters, I plan to put an oil finish on the project after I get
this
> > drawer problem resolved.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Brad
> >
> >
> >
>
>
Do only the other drawer fronts?
"Brad" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I recently built a Stickley inspired chest of drawers. It is made from
> Chestnut Oak. I fumed the project with ammonia and it turned the wood a
nice
> brown/gray appearance. I am pleased with the color. Unfortunately, one of
> the drawer fronts had lots of sapwood. At the time of construction, I
didn't
> know that sapwood would react differently. (lesson learned)
>
> I want to try to match the one mismatched drawer front. I wiped on a coat
> of Minwax Special Walnut. It looked pretty good on a scrap piece, so I
went
> ahead with the drawer front. I am not happy with the color match. It has
too
> much brown and not enough smoky gray/black.
>
> What would be a logical approach to achieve a more uniform look? I was
> thinking about trying Minwax Jacobean.
>
> If it matters, I plan to put an oil finish on the project after I get this
> drawer problem resolved.
>
> Thanks,
> Brad
>
>
>
My suggestion was to make a virtue out of a necessity. Contrast the
drawerfronts.
If you're not warm on that one, you might want to rebuild the drawer or
drawerfront, because you're not about to get something chemically and even
structurally different - sapwood - to look like heart.
Only an oil stain has a chance, because it's more a surface color. As an
oil, of course, it will be hydrophobic, and reject your water dye. As the
pigment will still be there, the results could be pretty dismal. If you
want gray, traditional is liming wax over bleach, but - YUK!
"Brad" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi George,
>
> I think I must have been confusing in my original post. Sorry about that.
> Only one of the seven drawer fronts had sapwood. Thus, I want to match the
> one bad drawer to the others. What are my options in staining? I have
> already used an oil based stain on the bad drawer front to try to fix it.
> Can I use a water based dye on top of an oil stain? Or do I need to stay
> with an oil stain. Logic tells me to avoid any water based dye at this
> point. Do you know a dye that would produce a dark gray color?
In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
says...
> I recently built a Stickley inspired chest of drawers. It is made from
> Chestnut Oak. I fumed the project with ammonia and it turned the wood a nice
> brown/gray appearance. I am pleased with the color. Unfortunately, one of
> the drawer fronts had lots of sapwood. At the time of construction, I didn't
> know that sapwood would react differently. (lesson learned)
>
> I want to try to match the one mismatched drawer front. I wiped on a coat
> of Minwax Special Walnut. It looked pretty good on a scrap piece, so I went
> ahead with the drawer front. I am not happy with the color match. It has too
> much brown and not enough smoky gray/black.
>
> What would be a logical approach to achieve a more uniform look? I was
> thinking about trying Minwax Jacobean.
>
> If it matters, I plan to put an oil finish on the project after I get this
> drawer problem resolved.
>
> Thanks,
> Brad
>
>
>
>
My opinion, the logical approach would be to avoid the picky aggravation
of trying to match color and make a new drawer.
--
MikeG
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
[email protected]