BLO and stain question....

[Nathan Dekens]

Im doing a project with some Mahoghany and I was going to do a BLO and Shellac finish. However im alos using some contrasting wood and I need to stain the Mahoghany so that it dosn't get lost in the other wood type (oak). Can I put on a minwax stain then BLO and shellac?

[Conrad Fiore]

Nathan,
The Minwax stain has a sealer in it, so the BLO over the stain won't do much good. You could dye/BLO/shellac and I think that would work out better for you. The dyes are also available in many more colors than the Minwax stains and they won't muddy the wood.

[Nathan Dekens]

Thanks,

Since im using a very little portion of the mohaghany I think I might just stain the mohaghany with the minwax then shellac it and use BLO and shellac on the rest.

[Scott Holmes]

How is the mahogany going to get lost next to oak? Redish brown vs. light tan.

[Nathan Dekens]

How is the mahogany going to get lost next to oak? Redish brown vs. light tan.

Well I did a test application of BLO on the oak an mahogany and I just didn't see enough of a contrast between the two.

Anyways I decided to just use BLO on the whole thing and it seemed to turn out pretty darn nice as you can see below. Now there is a story behined each peace of wood used.

The walnut frame is around 20 - 30 years old and off of our families property. The oak panel is from a tree that was limbed out a year ago from the same property and gave me one heck of a time as you can probably see in the photo's of my wood filler patch job.

Now the Mohogany is whats special, as its actually from church pew's that my wife attended as a child. Apparently the pew's needed to be shortened at one point in time.

So now what is your guys opinion on applying the shellac? Should I or should I just leave it as is with just BLO?

[Chris Padilla]

Some clear shellac will help protect it. BLO is basically a stain...it has zero protection. Let the BLO dry about a week and then spray a coat of Sealcoat on it.

[Prashun Patel]

Definitely put a topcoat like shellac on it. BLO starts to look dead quite quickly. A top coat will make it vibrant. You're not doing yr nice work justice without a topcoat (IMHO!)

[Scott Holmes]

Shellac to seal it in, no need to wait an entire week for the BLO to cure, 24-48 hours is plenty especially with shellac going over it; shellac will stick to teflon.