I have muddled in woodworking a while, but am not good at all with stains and finish. I have built a bookshelf that I want to stain to match the Whalen Milan desk I bought at Sams Club. I am color deficient, but the color appears to be like an expresso finish. From a distance it almost looks black or dark brown painted, but looking closer you can see tint of the grain below. Certainly not paint. It is almost like it was finished with a normal stain then a tinted poly was applied over it.
Does this make any sense? Can someone offer some tips?
Replies
Colors
The photo looks more like a dark cherry finish than expresso. The kind of wood you used ????? for the bookcase will help get you going in the right direction.
SA
The bookshelf I have built is oak. Just like the desk. The photo is a stock photo from the mfr. I will try to get a close-up photo of the desk color and post it tomorrow. Thanks!
Desk Color
Hey SJ -
I don't want to steer you wrong so my first question is ? Is the flash making the background of your desk appear reddish orange or would you say that is a true base color. If so than it looks like you're going after a very dark burnt umber color over a red base stain; here's how I would get there without using spray equipment. A cherry dye stain water based - than over that a wiping stain burnt umber with black added to darken a lot. Top coat with clear if the color seemed close. Other wise use your finish with color added to tweak -
Products with finish and color together are OK - you just need to go slow- no heavy coats - rather one thinly applied coat over another - lightly sanding in between - allow extended dry times before sanding - and once you get to the color - put one last clear coat. Given those big grains in the oak - I would go with the flattest satin finish they have and steel wool with 4-0 when completely dry.
Getting to a color is easier than making the overall finish appear uniform. Try to concentrate on working evenly - whether your staining or finishing. Definitely do your sample boards first. In my shop I have all the earth tones and primary colors. When a color isn't working - I can add color easily - you on the other hand may not have a full palette of colors to experiment with. That's the difficult part of color matching - you're doing it from one or two cans of product. You need luck doing it that way.
SA
Hello SA,
The system keeps telling me I have tripped a spam filter.
SJ
The so-called spam filter
You might want to write Lisa Morgan (username LisaMorgan) through the forum's private messaging system to get put on the "trusted users" list. If we pester the editorial staff enough about this, perhaps they can convice the tech staff to use a more rational approach to filtering spammers.
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