Matching Color in a Project from Woodworking.com

Scott Brown included this picture of his frame-and-panel construction desk. Nice legs Scott!

While building a frame-and-panel-construction desk, it occurred to this woodworker that he'll have trouble matching the different shades of grain on the solid walnut and walnut-veneered plywood pieces. He'd prefer to just use tung oil on the piece, but has thought about staining the plywood to match the hardwood … perhaps mixing his own stain, if that was possible?

A woodworker first described his own preference for using a filler on walnut, followed with a film topcoat like shellac. But if an oil finish was preferred, he suggesting first flooding the wood with mineral spirits to preview the color variation. If the results were unacceptable, he advised mixing a small amount of dark brown transtint dye with a equally small amount of acetone, and adding the mixture to a cup or so of the oil finish. Warning to test it on a scrap first, he related how he'd gotten good results with this approach on cherry.

Though a couple of woodworkers suggested that the contrast could be a nice accent, the original poster declared that upon trying the mineral spirits test, he'd decided the difference would detract from the overall appearance. In response to his request for stain sources, a forum member suggested checking out Jeff Jewitt's site, www.homesteadfinishing.com, which offers the transtint dyes as well as a finishing forum. Advocating taking time when it comes to finishes, he also suggested picking up Jeff's book "Great Wood Finishes" for more ideas. The essence of the advice: take your time selecting the finish and method of application as you have a very nice desk.

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Matching Color in a Project