Problems Staining Beech

[Thomas Penrose]

I have this Danish chair, made in the late 50's to mid-60's, imported by the Selig company. Many of these Selig chairs were made of beech and were given a stain finish to look like walnut. This chair had bad finish wear on one beech arm of the chair, and after sanding it down with 120-150-220, I have been stumped by how the manufacturer finished this very difficult to stain wood.

In the second image you can see how the original finish looks -- the color is very even, and the grain of the wood is readily visible. I have tried three times now to stain it with an oil Varathane stain, with no luck.

The last image was taken after staining (after using a Varathane pre-stain conditioner for oil stain). Although the color is too dark where the stain absorbed, an even bigger problem is that some parts of the wood will not accept stain at all (not only the large areas shown, but the more dense flecks of the grain pattern will not take any stain either). I had similar results after sanding only with 120 grit, with and without pre-stain conditioner. Does anyone know how this type of beech furniture was originallyfinished? A non-absorbing stain/lacquer spray applied? Thanks in advance for any advice.

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[Casey Gooding]

My guess is that the factory used a tinted topcoat. It would be a faster alternative to staining and then topcoating. Your best option would be to take it to a good finishing store where they can mix up a finish to match what's on there already.

[Henry Ambrose]

Toner, glaze and some tinted top coats is how it was done. I'd take all the finish off and completely re-finish. The other thing I see is very different grain in the two arms. They didn't have to pay much attention to matching the parts when they were all covered up with fairly opaque layers of finish.

[Thomas Penrose]

Thanks a lot for that information. Does topcoating generally involved first sealing the wood with clear lacquer or etc., to keep any toner from being absorbed, and thereby creating an uneven or blotchy effect, especially on the end grain?

[Scott Holmes]

Yes. You may want to dye the wood to get a good base color then seal with shellac (do not use varnish, lacquer based toners will blister it if it not completely cured) Then an anersol can of toner should color it evenly.

Practice with the toner; you want EVEN and LIGHT coats. Runs/sags are easy until you get the hang of it. Top coat of varnish to protect the toner.

I would recommend Waterlox original. Dye toners do not hide the grain; pigment toners will hide the grain a bit.

[Thomas Penrose]

Thanks again. As the original finish color appears to be quite transparent, I think I might like to experiment with a dye aerosol toner. Is there one you recommend? I see manufacturers such as Behlen and Mohawk, and assume I will probably need to order something unless I can find a place in Portland or Salem, Oregon that stocks it (I do see that there is a Rockler Woodworking store in the Portland area, and they carry the Behlen dye aerosol).

[Jeff Jewitt]

Use Mohawk Lacquer Aerosol in Burnt Umber or whatever they make that's close to that color. Once you build up to the color finish it with several coats of clear satin.