I am about to stain (walnut) an oak corner cabinet and fear that my finish nail holes will show on the face frame. I countersank and filled them with wood putty and sanded them smooth. Is there anything I can do, before or after the finish, to make them disappear? Thanks.
bill
Replies
Bill , On a new product or specie of wood a test piece filled and stained will show you what you will end up with . A lot of the face on a kitchen get covered with door and drawer faces , so most of the nail holes get covered . You also can use soft putty or color putty between coats of finish , or after . Good Luck
thanks, dusty. I used a putty the same color as the oak and am hoping it will stain the same as the wood. It's supposed to according to the product info on the can.
Another technique is to collect sanding dust of the particular wood (many times I beltsand with fine grit a piece of scrap), mix the dust with the stain you are using and some shellac. Works very well, is cheap and blends better than commercial fillers. This filler is good only for very samll spots like the set nails you are talking about. For larger spaces, I use scap wood and cut fill pieces.
Thank you for your suggestion. Unfortuanately I have already filled the holes and am hoping it will stain the same as the wood. I'm going to test on a piece of scrap.
One way to do it is to just paint them the correct color with a small artist's brush. Homestead sells a set of colors for this sort of thing.
Thank you.. one other question. My wife wants this piece stained dark to match my daughters sleigh bed.
Would walnut be about the darkest stain available? I thought about mahogony, buy there's a touch of red in it.
bill
I don't work in red oak, and have little staining experience with it. Others here really know this stuff, so I would look to them for more info, but it might take a new thread to alert them to your question. Good luck.
Thanks.. I'll keep trying to get some suggestions because the walnut I've tried looks dark and flat.
Bill,
Depending on the brand / type of stain you are using, there are colors like "Jacobean" or "Ebony" that provide a blackish appearance. That may be too dark, but you could mix it with the walnut or red mahoghany to get the color you want. I have often used red mahoghany stain combined with other tints to provide a deep brown color and have found that the hint of red added nicely to the depth. Just depends on whether you want a "red-brown" or a "yellow-brown."
Combining some of the blackish tints may give you that slightly darker look your wife is wanting.
Good Luck.
Thanks for your excellent suggestions. The Walnut I tested looks too muddy. I will try mixing in some mahogany to get more of a depth and brightness to the color.
I've used the same basic technique that NorthRiverJohn describes and have received many compliments on the finish. You say that what you tried looked too muddy. So... you might try an oil stain. I did a color sample several months back on rift cut red oak where I used a reddish/brownish dye stain and then wiped on some Minwax Ebony oil stain. For the project I was working on I was unable to get it dark enough with the Minwax and ended up having to go with a solvent stain with pigments. But, the Minwax type approach might give you the darkness you want without too much muddyness. I believe that Minwax uses oil soluable dyes a lot. And those obviously won't leave the surface muddying effect that pigments can.
The Minwax "ebony" stain, as well as the custom tinted M.L. Campbell solvent stain that I used instead, are nothing more than a bunch of black colorant in a stain base. That will get you dark. So, you can adjust your color by adjusting the dye stain that you put on the wood first. In my case I needed it to be warm so I put on several heavy coats of yellowish brown dye stain and washed coated it to lock in the dye stain. What I ended up with is called "warm chocolate" (I didn't invent it... I just matched it) and it is supposedly the upcoming hot color for commercially sold furniture.
Regards,
Kevin
Hey, Kevin.. thanks for the great suggestions. I'll keep them in mind for the future. What I ended up using was a walnut Minwax gel stain which gave me the color I wanted after two coats.. and it was very easy to use. Ever tried the gel stains?
bill
Nope. I've never used a gel stain. They are a product targeted at the do-it-yourselfer market and aren't used commercially much that I'm aware of. As I understand the rational... gel stains were introduced to allow a guy or gal in his/her garage to approximate with a brush and wiping rag the look of a factory produced multi-step color finish. I'm set up to do the factory type multi-step finishes. Maybe one of these days I'll have to break down and play around with some gel stains just to see how well I like them.
Regards,
Kevin
Kevin.. yep, I'm the garage guy who wouldn't know how to do a multi step finish if my life depended on it. The most advanced I've attempted is sand, stain, poly. The gel is quick and easy.. but will never look as good as your results, I'm sure.
Bill. I didn't mean to be condescending. All I meant was that I'm familiar with how to work with stains using the equipment, materials, and techniques that I've been taught or figured out over the years. Like most people I prefer to stay inside my comfort zone... and for me that's doing things along the lines of a factory finish because that'w where I learned my craft. I have no doubt that that there are folks out there who are familiar with and competent with gel stains who would make my initial attempts to work with it look like a kindergartener with finger paints. That's life. Y'know?
My sole experience with gel stain was watching a coworker, who was temporarily my boss, badly botch a color match that was overdue for client review. Granted, he didn't know what he was doing and was too proud to ask for help. But... it left me with a net negative view of gel stains. Anyway... this kid quit over that particular job and I ended up putting out a sample using materials and methods that I'm familiar with that was approved within just a few hours of this guy walking off the job. Which of course just reinforced my opinion of gel stains. But hey... I can be honest enough to admit my prejudice.
As I said before... one of these days I'll have to get some gel stain and play around with it myself to see if I like it.
Regards,
Kevin
Thanks, Kevin.. I appreciated your time and generosity.. and I wish I had your skills when it comes to finishing.
A big problem I have where I live in Houston is humidity.. which necessitates a quick drying, fast acting solution.
bill
Bill,
The main "skills" that I rely on is a good eye for color and a stubborn perfectionist streak. The rest is just a matter of experience. The eye for color and at least a slight perfectionist streak are far more important than experience in my humble opinion. Hack artists can have all the experience in the world and they won't ever be able to compete with a guy who has a good eye for color and won't settle for second best. I know because I've replaced guys with more experience but who turned out shoddy work.
Regards,
Kevin
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