Stain on alder

[Gerald]

I am in Asheville , NC and my son wants shelves to match what looks like tigerwood. We know it is stained . Looking at maybe alder or red oak. I am familiar with oak but how dark of a stain will alder take (this looks like mahogany, maybe little lighter). And how easy will it be to get that dark color on it. Have not worked with alder before. Or is it better to just use the oak?

[Chips N Dust]

I have seen Alder almost black. Some built in bookcases at my dad's is a very deep, dark brown.

[Dadio]

I love to work with Alder, it is easy to machine and stains evenly, better than maple, Maybe take a picture of it and take it to a Rockler, Woodcraft, or a paint store and see if you can match the color. Might have to mix 2 stain colors to get what you want.

Herb

[kmealy]

I've only worked with alter once and it did seem to blotch, so I used a diluted hide glue size after testing several things.   Is the "tigerwood" also known as Goncalo Alves?  (which I don't think I've ever worked with).

 

A few years ago PopWood did a lot of test runs with stains to recreate a "mission" finish.   They like the General Finishes Java (oil-based) best.   I've used GF's Espresso (water-borne) stain a lot, but it's just plain black for me.   I put down a dye coat of a medium red prior to wiping on the Espresso.   That gives the red undertones that is normally in factory 'espresso" finishes.

 

Another place you might look is here to see if anything rings your bell.  Woodcraft and Rockler both carry these Transtint Dyes and General Finishes stains..

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwjO0tLngJnVAhVGOyYKHWVGDnoQFggoMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhomesteadfinishingproducts.com%2Fstickley.pdf&usg=AFQjCNG-HLTLIzCI_6wWFSNiGNCY6eAh4Q

Edited July 20, 2017 by kmealy

[Gerald]

After my son talked to his contractor he found out it was mahogany with a stain . He will have to ask again as to the stain because he did not write it down (why do we always write it down, why not up). So he told us he got the wood at Bee Tree Hardwoods and we found a 14 ft X 20 X 6/4 . Had to cut some blanks to load that thing and guess what I gout to bring it home to do the rip and planing. Thanks for the help.