I am building a cabinet (birch ply, pine & popular) for a fellow who has
decided he wants to stain it black. I have never stained anything black.
Can I dilute the flat black paint that I already have or should I go out
and buy black stain?
Considering that there are mixed wood types, would I be better with a gel
stain, dye or will diluted paint be okay?
--
Pee Pee Firefighter
_\ _ /_
____|_|______ __________________________
|| @| | | ||_________________________ |
||_/| |___| || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| PeePee Fire || """""""""""""""""""""""" |
| Dept || OOO |
| ___ "" !!! ___ ___ |__
|___/ \_____________________/ \/ \___(_|
\___/ \___/\___/
"Pee Pee Phirephighter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I am building a cabinet (birch ply, pine & popular) for a fellow who has
> decided he wants to stain it black. I have never stained anything black.
> Can I dilute the flat black paint that I already have or should I go out
> and buy black stain?
>
> Considering that there are mixed wood types, would I be better with a gel
> stain, dye or will diluted paint be okay?
I have stained black on occassion and found that the water based gel stain
from Clearwater works very well. You can purchase it from Highland
Hardware.
SH
Never tried it myself but I have several pieces of furniture my father made.
He stained them with leather dye. Before someone says something, I will
clarify. Leather DYE, not polish. Looks great.
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> India ink has been commented on but my preference leans toward
> TransTint dye from www.homesteadfinishing.com. Mixes with water,
> alcohol, oil, lacquer thinner (IIRC) and Jeff suggests spraying dyes.
> Visit his site and ask the "master".
>
> On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 16:01:48 GMT, Pee Pee Phirephighter
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >I am building a cabinet (birch ply, pine & popular) for a fellow who has
> >decided he wants to stain it black. I have never stained anything black.
> >Can I dilute the flat black paint that I already have or should I go out
> >and buy black stain?
> >
> >Considering that there are mixed wood types, would I be better with a gel
> >stain, dye or will diluted paint be okay?
>
Pee Pee Phirephighter <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I am building a cabinet (birch ply, pine & popular) for a fellow who has
> decided he wants to stain it black. I have never stained anything black.
> Can I dilute the flat black paint that I already have or should I go out
> and buy black stain?
>
> Considering that there are mixed wood types, would I be better with a gel
> stain, dye or will diluted paint be okay?
> --
> Pee Pee Firefighter
>
> _\ _ /_
> ____|_|______ __________________________
> || @| | | ||_________________________ |
> ||_/| |___| || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
> | PeePee Fire || """""""""""""""""""""""" |
> | Dept || OOO |
> | ___ "" !!! ___ ___ |__
> |___/ \_____________________/ \/ \___(_|
> \___/ \___/\___/
I did a home office. The desk top was oak strip flooring that I
stained black. I got a pint from Home Depot. It's water based mixed
to order and worked perfectly.
I have limited experience with gel and dyes so the following will apply to
simple oil based stain. Be careful because these woods are inherently
tricky and the darkness will amplify problems.
1) The woods you are using are all fairly soft and subject to motteling.
This is especially true of the pine and birch. Be sure you use a
conditioner before staining. This could be a product such as Min Wax
Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. Some will say you can get the same effect from
spirits or thinner and this might be true. I have used the Min Wax product
on lightly stained birch and it works well - costs $5-6/qt.
2) When you say stain I assume the fellow wants to retain some of the grain
detail. I would not use paint. You could well hide the grain and might end
up with a surface coat that doesn't play well with the finish coat. If you
can't find a black stain, take a look at some of the darker stains than fall
in the category of Mediterranean or Ebony. You might get a paint store to
mix a special batch or tint an existing stain.
3) Whatever you do, set aside some chunks of the material used in the
cabinet, sand them to a representative surface, and practice with the
conditioner and stain. Make sure that the conditioner lets you get all
woods to the same starting point.
"Pee Pee Phirephighter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I am building a cabinet (birch ply, pine & popular) for a fellow who has
> decided he wants to stain it black. I have never stained anything black.
> Can I dilute the flat black paint that I already have or should I go out
> and buy black stain?
>
> Considering that there are mixed wood types, would I be better with a gel
> stain, dye or will diluted paint be okay?
> --
> Pee Pee Firefighter
>
> _\ _ /_
> ____|_|______ __________________________
> || @| | | ||_________________________ |
> ||_/| |___| || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
> | PeePee Fire || """""""""""""""""""""""" |
> | Dept || OOO |
> | ___ "" !!! ___ ___ |__
> |___/ \_____________________/ \/ \___(_|
> \___/ \___/\___/
India ink has been commented on but my preference leans toward
TransTint dye from www.homesteadfinishing.com. Mixes with water,
alcohol, oil, lacquer thinner (IIRC) and Jeff suggests spraying dyes.
Visit his site and ask the "master".
On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 16:01:48 GMT, Pee Pee Phirephighter
<[email protected]> wrote:
>I am building a cabinet (birch ply, pine & popular) for a fellow who has
>decided he wants to stain it black. I have never stained anything black.
>Can I dilute the flat black paint that I already have or should I go out
>and buy black stain?
>
>Considering that there are mixed wood types, would I be better with a gel
>stain, dye or will diluted paint be okay?
I have tried quite a few ways to ebonize wood. I have used stains, dyes,
diluted paint, colored lacquer, india ink, the old trick of vinegar and
steel wool and various combinations.
I have not had good luck with pigmented stains. You don't get a dark enough
color. Some methods, such as using a diluted paint (another pigmented
stain) or colored lacquer will hide the grain. India ink, which is a true
black, is faily expensive ( I paid about $32 for a quart) and also has a
tendency to hide the grain.
I believe in your case, th best bet is to use a water-based dye (
http://www.homesteadfinishing.com/htdocs/TransTint.htm ). However, the dye
is not a true black and it has a slight purple caste. All dyes I have seen
have this quality. A couple of drops of orange transtint will warm it up
some, but too much will start turning it brown. Most people can live with
the slight resulting purple caste.
Preston
"Pee Pee Phirephighter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I am building a cabinet (birch ply, pine & popular) for a fellow who has
> decided he wants to stain it black. I have never stained anything black.
> Can I dilute the flat black paint that I already have or should I go out
> and buy black stain?
>
> Considering that there are mixed wood types, would I be better with a gel
> stain, dye or will diluted paint be okay?
> --
> Pee Pee Firefighter
>
> _\ _ /_
> ____|_|______ __________________________
> || @| | | ||_________________________ |
> ||_/| |___| || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
> | PeePee Fire || """""""""""""""""""""""" |
> | Dept || OOO |
> | ___ "" !!! ___ ___ |__
> |___/ \_____________________/ \/ \___(_|
> \___/ \___/\___/