Finishing Help

[big tim]

To begin let me wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosporous New Year!

I built this cabinet for one of my daughters. My first attempt at something a bit more formal. She wanted two drawers but because it had to match the sideboard she has, I gave her a drawer inside the cabinet. I used dowels (and glue of course) to assemble the panels to each other and for that matter the drawers, using the "Dowelmax".





It is a small version of a sideboard she has from Ikea and is to serve as a stand for a small LCD panel TV. It will be located in, I guess it could be called a den area, off the the dining erea(open concept)
I have to try to match the stain of the Ikea sideboard shown below.





Looking at the sideboard's brown/black finish you can understand that I didn't make any effort to bookmatch the doors or was very concerned about the grain on the drawerfront. It shouldn't show.
The cabinet is made from oak veneer on a plywood core. Man, is that veneer ever thin.
Any suggestions on coming up with such a dark finish!
Your help would be appreciated.

Tim

[Stan]

You might check with a local paint shop to see if they can tint some lacquer for your to match that color.

Here is a picture of black lacquer sprayed over Oak 10mil veneered cabinets. If you can find someone to custom tint the lacquer -- you should be all set.

[cabinetman]

There are several ways to get a dark finish on oak. With oil base stains you can make your own mix with the blacks, browns and reds to come up with something close. Aniline dye, alcohol based, has many dark mixes. I have even used RIT dye, sold in grocery stores for dyeing materials. It's a powder you mix yourself, so the strength is up to you.

Tinting the clear coat might give the dark look, but might cover the grain to look painted. I've done that with light mist dusting with the gun. You have to have a lot of light and watch how uniform it can be kept.



A THING OF BEAUTY IS A JOY FOREVER - John Keats

[radhak]

wow, that's beautiful piece of furniture you made, tim!

against it, the ikea piece looks like - um, mass produced...

[drumpriest]

I just recently used an Aniline dye in alcohol suspention for ebonizing, it worked great. I used transtint. This would be for the legs. The cabinet would be trickier, as you'd probably need to mix a couple of dye colors to acheive it.

[big tim]

Finishing help

Thanks guys,
I knew that I would get all kinds of valuable advice from this forum.
I have no spraying equipment, so I'll have to persue the brush, wipe-on, etc. technique.
Mixing my own colour sounds interesting, and as suggested I will try various suggestions on sample piece first.
Again thanks sofar.

Tim

[scmhogg]

Tim,

I have had real good luck with using water soluble aniline dyes. This is a box made out of red oak colored with red and black dyes. The dyes allow the grain to show through.



A lot of the Ikea stuff is made with an ebonized ash veneer.

Steve

[zootroy]

another vote for dye. I have used it for many things:

ebonizing
color matching
matching sapwood to heartwood

good stuff.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

General Finishes - Gel Stain - Color Java

I think it would get you pretty close as it is very dark brown, but not quite black.

BTW, are you planning on filling the pores?

[big tim]

I looks like I've got to do some research on all the suggestions, allthough aniline seems to be the overwhelming recommendation.

And Jeffrey, I was not planning on filling the pores. The Ikea cabinet I'm trying to match to, does not have the pores filled either. I'll check out the stain you showed in your post, allthough it looks like it might be too brown.

Thanks again everyone!

Tim

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I'll check out the stain you showed in your post, allthough it looks like it might be too brown.

Thanks again everyone!

Tim

The good thing about gel stain is you have great control over the final color based upon how much you wipe off the surface.

It didn't appear that the grain was filled on the Ikea item either so you should be fine.

[big tim]

Finishing help

I've bought some Ebony dye in powder form and have decided to used it to make a waterbased dye. I mixed up about 200 ml.(that's about 6 or 7 fluid ounce)
I applied it on a scrap piece of the oak veneered plywood(as used on the cabinet), let it dry a bit and then wiped it. There is no two ways about it, it certainly dyed it black(I may have to get some brown to mix with it to match the colour, but I'll worry about that when I have the other problems resolved). The interesting part is though that it doesn't seem to penetrate as well in the softer pores as it does in the harder surface of the wood. Opposite to what stain does?
Am I right about this "phenomena"?
Repeated applications improved the penetration in the pores but it still shows a bit.
Maybe what I need to experiment with, is to apply a waterbase stain first to make sure the pores have taken on the stain and then use the dye.
Or should I use a waterbased Pre-stain wood conditioner first?
Your comments would be appreciated.

Tim