Thomas Penrose
02-15-2011, 7:08 PM
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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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.
182855182856182857