Darkening stain

[JHZR2]

Hi,

Have two scenarios that I need some help with regarding stain.

1) Some new oak I am practicing on that I prepped well, put stain on, and looks beautiful. I just cannot get it quite dark enough despite putting on multiple coats. How do I get it to take more stain?

2) Some original chestnut that I had to strip. It is down to bare wood and even slightly sanded, yet will not take any stain. Ive gone over it with mineral spirits and turpentine. Does this mean I have to be more aggressive removing wood? Its real smooth right now and I dont want to mess with it or clog the pores by doing more on it.

Another general question - Ive read pros and cons on pre-stain preps, as well as rubbing down with mineral spirits, which Ive always done and have stained some nice stuff. I recently read though to wet the wood with water, then apply the oil stain. Any truth in this?

Thanks!

 

[cmorr]

Would suggest wood dyes in place of or in combination with a stain.

Water soluble dyes work extremely well on oak, I prefer TransFastDyes.

With the mahogany I have used Wood Bleach (A/B Bleach) in the past.

I would google wood dyes and A/B Wood bleach

 

[cmorr]

And to add, the idea of using water is to pre-raise the grain followed by sanding to avoid the grain being raised by the stain itself.

 

[doitmyself]

Man, trying to match wood stains can drive a person crazy. I have had moderate success with the water method. It supposedly swells the wood and opens the pores more. With conifers, you can emphasis more blotchiness with water. Chestnut is pretty dense, so give the water a try.

Along the lines of cmorr's advice, on my last project I used tinted Watco Danish oil as a stain prior to top finish on oak. It acted more like a dye (i guess) and was much more uniform and clear compared to Minwax stain, which has solid pigments in it (more "cloudy). I have learned a lot about wood finishing by the author Bob Flexner (SP?). He really dissects the bad terminology used with "danish oils/wiping finishes", etc..

Good luck on this difficult task. It's hard for a diyer to embrace the better products cmorr mentions because they are not available locally in my experience.

 

[jcwit]

May sound crazy but its what I used for years for a dark stain for oak wood to bring out the grain and one can customize the darkness easily.

Use non fibered tar based roof coating and minerial spirits or paint thinner. Start with approx 2 to 4 tablespoosn of coating to a qt. of thinner and vary from there either darker or lighter. Let dry 4 to 6 hours and finish with varnish or poly finish as usual. Works great and takes the place of Minwax Provincial stain.

I used this method for 15 years when I had my own woodworking/craft business.

 

[JHZR2]

Awesome, the tar is likely soluble and acts more like a dye. Dying is what I need at this point I think. Chestnut stained is reddish brown, which will make it more interesting to do!