finished quarter sawn red oak

[Chilihead]

So I'm making a red oak slab top for a kitchen bar top for a friend. I've joined 2 through & through cut slabs. I filled the voids in the pith with black tinted epoxy. The edges of each have nice large medullary rays that I want to highlight. I wiped on some stains on sample boards, but they just don't look good. I've wiped on a coat of oil onto the counter top...see pics. It highlighted the grain some, but not as much as I'd hoped. Any ideas of options for me at this point? Eventually I'll varnish it with Waterlox or poly. Thanks crew!

 

[sawman101]

If after applying oil to the slab, the grain isn't sufficiently highlighted, I'd be totally lost! I've always thought oil would highlight the grain the best of any product. Hope there is another solution CH.:dontknow:

 

[Wyatt Co.]

This is a personal opinion and my feelings on wood and grain so take it with a grain of salt.

The thought process of "popping grain" bugs me. Look at any piece of wood, or anything with figure (marble for instance) and your eyes are immediately drawn to the figure.....the grain. It doesn't need "popping" or "bringing out". It speaks for itself. Some figure may not be as noticeable at first but it's there to everyone and anyone that stops to look at it. If all the figure is standing out like a little man dancing on it, one takes away from the beauty and mystery of the piece. Wood (in general) is beautiful without doing anything to it.

What you've got going on is awesome. I'm a Tung oil finatic so I'd just use that. But that's just me.

 

[KenOfCary]

That is a pretty large piece for this process and would require a large frame covered in plastic. Seal with duct tape and put some 10% ammonia inside a shallow tray inside the case for a few days. This fuming will darken the wood significantly and bring out the rays. Try it on a small piece to make sure you like the affect. You can get 10% ammonia at Ace Hardware called Janitorial Strength. The stuff you get at the supermarket or elsewhere is not even 1% and will pretty much do nothing.

The ammonia reacts with tannin's in certain woods (Oak being one of them) and causes them to darken.

Be sure and use a whole face respirator to protect your lungs and eyes from the fumes. The stuff is highly toxic.

 

[kirkpj01]

I have had good luck with water based dyes. You have to be judicious with the amount of time.amount o dye but I have made picture frames and some tables with quartered oak with good success.

 

[scsmith42]

That is a pretty large piece for this process and would require a large frame covered in plastic. Seal with duct tape and put some 10% ammonia inside a shallow tray inside the case for a few days. This fuming will darken the wood significantly and bring out the rays. Try it on a small piece to make sure you like the affect. You can get 10% ammonia at Ace Hardware called Janitorial Strength. The stuff you get at the supermarket or elsewhere is not even 1% and will pretty much do nothing.

The ammonia reacts with tannin's in certain woods (Oak being one of them) and causes them to darken.

Be sure and use a whole face respirator to protect your lungs and eyes from the fumes. The stuff is highly toxic.

Ken, he is working with red oak - not white. Red oak tends to turn a greenish tint when exposed to ammonia fumes.

Chillihead, usually the best way to accentuate the medullary ray fleck on quartersawn oak is to use a dye process (not stain). Dye's tend to penetrate the early and late wood cells in oak easier than they do the medullary cells, so proper application can have good results.

In particular, dye's are better for red oak than pigmented stains because stains tend to accumulate in the open pores of the wood, resulting in noticeable dark areas in the wood grain. Fortunately dye's do not have the accumulative effect.

Unfortunately most of the finishing information available is for white oak and not red, and the two different wood behave slightly differently when finished. As Bill recommended, tung oil is a great first finish on white oak (turns it a very nice brown color), but usually it does not have the same effect on some of the red oak species.

What I would suggest is that you try a few different options - either on spare lumber or on the bottom of the piece, until you find the combination that you like.

Scott

 

[Jeff]

How about shellac (1# cut x 2 coats, SealCoat or garnet shellac flakes) on red oak so the wood speaks for itself? I don't like pigment stains but don't mind TransTint dyes when appropriate but this bar top is a stand alone that doesn't need cosmetic touch-ups.

+1 to Waterlox for the final coats (easy to apply, durable, and easy to refinish if necessary) and -1 to poly. Definitely test representative size scraps to find the right mix.

 

[Chilihead]

Yes, I've had good luck dyes too. I was wondering how effective the dye would be after a coat of Minwax Antique oil finish? I'll have to play with a sample board there

 

[danmart77]

Yes, I've had good luck dyes too. I was wondering how effective the dye would be after a coat of Minwax Antique oil finish? I'll have to play with a sample board there

It will have NO effect. After oil on the wood-- no dye will reach the wood.

 

[dancam]

Sequence:
Sand,dye,dry,light sand, oil, dry, light sand, spit coat shellac, light sand, gel stain as a glaze, very light sand & finally 2-3 coats of final finish (wipe on poly or spray lacquer/shellac).

Seems like a lot of work but it goes fast and the results are great. See Jeff Jewitts website for more detail.

 

[Wyatt Co.]

Sequence:
Sand,dye,dry,light sand, oil, dry, light sand, spit coat shellac, light sand, gel stain as a glaze, very light sand & finally 2-3 coats of final finish (wipe on poly or spray lacquer/shellac).

Seems like a lot of work but it goes fast and the results are great. See Jeff Jewitts website for more detail.

I'd start digging ditches for a living if I had to go through all that just to get a quality, durable finish on a piece of wood.

 

[TENdriver]

Chilihead, Danmart77 is dead on about trying to dye the wood if you've already "sealed" the wood with an actual oil or whatever the Minwax is. Even stripping that finish off won't help much with dye.

 

[Rwe2156]

Actually a walnut stain will bring out the figure you have to play around with it.

Don't know about red oak, but I've used Watco Danish oil on QSWO and I think it looks pretty good.

If you're going to fill the grain, you have to use the right material for staining.

 

[Chilihead]

Yeah, I share that concern too. I don't know that Minwax Tung Oil finish has any actual tung oil in it either.

 

[Jeff]

Yeah, I share that concern too. I don't know that Minwax Tung Oil finish has any actual tung oil in it either.

There is very little "truth in advertising" many woodworking oil finishes including the Minwax and the so-called Danish oils. The manufacturers don't specifically say that their product does or does not contain tung oil but the inference is that "they look like a Tung oil finish". However, they're not bad finishes by any means.

Here are a couple that I think are legitimate.

Waterlox is a Tung oil finish and they tell you that up front.

https://www.waterlox.com/original

Here's another source of Tung oil if you want to mix your own with mineral spirits or citrus solvent.

https://www.realmilkpaint.com/category/oils/

 

[Wyatt Co.]

I've been trying to stay out of this thread because I see a lot of bad advise that would otherwise be great advice. Too many folks are simply not considering the fact the piece has already been wiped with oil. What kind of oil and how much oil remains a mystery. Flood coat or just a single "wipe on' coat to see what happens?

Regardless, even after sanding, there would be no way I'd toach it with a dye. There would be waaaaaay to many places the wouldn't accept it and to many places that would. The king of uncontrollable splotchy would be you. The same goes for stain at this point.

Yes, I love Tung oil, even walnut oil but I use it in it's pure form in a home recipe as a finish.

I do NOT care for the amber tint on red oak from shellac. I love shellac too but it has it's place and there are places it has no business.

 

[Chilihead]

I'm making this for a friend. He brought over the Minwax Tung Oil finish. We just wiped on a thin coat. It was not flooded.......but I'm also thinking that we just need to proceed on the path we've started and not try to change it up now. I think it needs more warmth/depth, but he's happy with it, and so I suppose that's all that really matters. Thanks for the advice. I agree with you in that I think the unknown splotch factor with dye now could prove a fatal mistake on this piece.

 

[Wyatt Co.]

Good choice. Just continue with what you started. True Tung oil darkens the wood with every coat applied (up to a point). Dunno about the Minwax stuff but most off the shelf oil finishes still darken and highlight with coats to a degree.

Best of luck to you and what you've got going on will only get better and it's already a beautiful piece.

 

[Jeff]

but I'm also thinking that we just need to proceed on the path we've started and not try to change it up now.

...and that path is...?...to finish it up. Pure tung oil, Waterlox tung oil, or...? :icon_scra

You've got a good start so carry on with more WIP pics as well.

 

[Chilihead]

the plan is to do another coat of the MinWax Tung Oil finish. I'll wet sand that to fill the pores a bit. Then it'll be several coats of Waterlox satin. My buddy I'm making it for was going to use poly as the final finish, but I just think Waterlox is a far superior finish, both in its application and cured look.