Shop cabinet finish - question

[KC7CN]

The upper shop cabinets are ready for finish! A mixture of wood species - maple plywood, cherry rail & Stiles with flat panel birch plywood doors. I have pre-finished the insides Minwax Golden Oak. Now I'm thinking it would be a better match for the house to finish the exterior to match the house cabinets.

The plan is to use a 50/50 mix of de-waxed shellac and denatured alcohol as a sealer, followed by an oil based stain; the shellack is to reduce blotching!

Can anybody provide a suggestion where to start in selecting the stain? Varathane Red mahogany is close, but does not appear to be dark enough. The picture below is was taken using a flash, and is a good match to what I'm looking for.

I know this post should be in the Finish forum, but thinking more members would see it here. That being the case, here's a link to my work-in-process of the shop cabinets.

https://picasaweb.google.com/104032...authkey=Gv1sRgCOCz8aSY2d2AsQE&feat=directlink

-Don

 

[Bas]

Great looking cabinets Don, I like the use of the shop-made corner clamps. I need to make some of those. Those doors came out great too.

You might have better luck getting a dark color with a dye instead of a stain. The Transtint Red or Brown Mahogany should get pretty close, although you may need to make a mix to get a good match. You can add this directly to your shellac sealer mixture. Or you could use a dark brown stain first, then add a reddish dye on top. <Howard Acheson voice on>Remember to always test your finish on a piece of scrap, sanded to the same grit as your actual project<voice off>

I'd aim for a color that's a shade lighter than what you have in the house, since the cherry will darken over time naturally (and attract crud).

Personally, I would not try to match the color unless they were part of the house. But they're going into a far more important place - the shop!

 

[KC7CN]

The upper shop cabinets are ready for finish! A mixture of wood species - maple plywood, cherry rail & Stiles with flat panel birch plywood doors. I have pre-finished the insides Minwax Golden Oak. Now I'm thinking it would be a better match for the house to finish the exterior to match the house cabinets.

The plan is to use a 50/50 mix of de-waxed shellac and denatured alcohol as a sealer, followed by an oil based stain; the shellack is to reduce blotching!

Can anybody provide a suggestion where to start in selecting the stain? Varathane Red mahogany is close, but does not appear to be dark enough. The picture below is was taken using a flash, and is a good match to what I'm looking for.

I know this post should be in the Finish forum, but thinking more members would see it here. That being the case, here's a link to my work-in-process of the shop cabinets.

https://picasaweb.google.com/104032...authkey=Gv1sRgCOCz8aSY2d2AsQE&feat=directlink




-Don

Update on my finish selection. My LOML has been using one of those MinWax Red Mahogany 225 felt touch-up pens on our cabinets. It looked a little dark, but otherwise is real close match. I picked up a small can of the same stain and made some samples. I used a seal coat of 50/50 Shellac (without wax) and denatured alcohol. Test samples consist of 3/4'' Cherry hardwood, Maple veneer plywood, and Birch veneer plywood.

Cherry hardwood - 2 coats of stain. Cabinet door frames.

All samples - without camera flash:

All samples - with camera flash.

Birch veneer plywood (flat panel doors)

-Don

 

[KC7CN]

Great looking cabinets Don, I like the use of the shop-made corner clamps. I need to make some of those. Those doors came out great too.

You might have better luck getting a dark color with a dye instead of a stain. The Transtint Red or Brown Mahogany should get pretty close, although you may need to make a mix to get a good match. You can add this directly to your shellac sealer mixture. Or you could use a dark brown stain first, then add a reddish dye on top. <Howard Acheson voice on>Remember to always test your finish on a piece of scrap, sanded to the same grit as your actual project<voice off>

I'd aim for a color that's a shade lighter than what you have in the house, since the cherry will darken over time naturally (and attract crud).

Personally, I would not try to match the color unless they were part of the house. But they're going into a far more important place - the shop!

Bas, thank you for the informative reply. Unfortunately, I have no experience with using dye - just one of those things I need to learn some day.

I did find a close match! Since these cabinets are in my garage/shop they don't need to be an exact match.

-don

 

[MichelCleark]

But would you please tell me is this dye is permanent solution over a stain and what are the advantages over using stain. I also never tried dye before and when I done my white kitchen cabinets renovation, my contractor didn't told me about this idea.

 

[Bas]

I suggest you read Michael Dresdner's blog post about dyes vs. stains. It's a great primer (pun intended) on the differences and advantages of each. One other thing to consider is that you can mix dyes with certain finishes, such as shellac. I had to repair a chair for a friend recently, and by adding a few drops of dye to some amber shellac I was able to get a pretty decent color match.

 

[MichelCleark]

Thank you very much Bas for this wonderful article. This clearly explains the uses and advantages of dyes over stain. It is going to be most helpful to select dyes on my next renovation.