Last night, Ron and I were taling about what stain he wants to use on a Curio Cabinet he's going to design and build.

 

He likes the darker colors (so do I) and I mentioned Minwax "Jacobean."  It's a little darker than the Provincial Ron likes, so I told him I would post some images of my Sample Board.

 

The Sample Board was made from a piece of highly figured Red Oak plywood to show the color contrasts for each stain.

 

Here's four images.

Larry

 

 

 

 

Great pics Larry and taking the time to work up some samples.

 

I have found going dark stain in oaks. The pigments tend to collect in the deep grain and get thick or grainy looking. I have first used shellac,about 1/2 pound cut to say about 1 pound cut first. Then scuff the shellac with 320 so not to seal your color going into the wood. The shellac remains in the grain. Then apply your stain.

 

The shellac will limit the amount of pigments taken up by grain. Will make the grain thinner looking. Play with some samples before taking it to the project, may take 2 coat of shellac with a light scuff between coats.

 

Just a thought and perhaps something different to try.

 

-Ace-

Thanks for the comments.

That works.  You are really using shellac as a "Conditioner".

Some folks like the deeper contrast that stain on Red Oak will give you.  Others like the "filled" look.

I have rubbed out Zinnser's "Seal Coat" which is a de-waxed shellac with good results.

What ever works..

Larry

Speaking of the grain filling, other than shellac what have you used to fill the grain in like the Red Oak?

Thanks for posting this Larry.  I'm heading out the door is just awhile to go to the big box store to buy stain so I'll check it out.  Thanks again!

 

Timber mate works well as a grain filler. I have used filler from ace hardware, although, I am not sure if they still carry it. I have also used Mohawk's grain filler and something that was sold by Constantine's years ago called pore o pak, I think. It is all pretty much the same, an oil base filler, except the timbermate is water base and really works nice. I believe most paint stores carry some type of grain filler.

John Moody said:

Speaking of the grain filling, other than shellac what have you used to fill the grain in like the Red Oak?