Need Help....AGAIN

[Dave Fairfax]

I am just about ready to start the finish work on my private home cinema, ive spent the last 2 years engineering this room to the max (i.e. sound isolation, soundproofing, acoustic design, etc.) and I want to put the same quality effort into the finish work. The room will have a coffered ceiling, wainscoting, columns, and hundreds of feet of mouldings.

My dilemma.......

The soffit (bulkhead) that runs the perimeter of the room, used to hide all the rooms wires, hvac, etc. will be done in veneered plywood (walnut).

The rest will be solid stock walnut that I have been collecting for the past several years. This walnut has been air dried for 2-4 years and briefly put in the kiln to get the moisture content down that extra few percent. Nevertheless, it looks completely different than the steamed veneer plywood.

I nailed down the finish I wanted between two schedules. First was 2 coats of orange shellac followed by 4-5 coats of Waterlox OSF. Second was same schedule (without the shellac).

As you can guess, the nice walnut looks completely different than the steamed crap.

My question, how can I bring the steamed veneer closer to the solid stock, as far as color/looks. Picture attached of the shellac/waterlox piece and a section of plywood.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u439/fax6202/IMG_0767_zps5a59399b.jpg

[Steve Schoene]

I suspect with a lot of testing you can find a dye color that will give a reasonable color match, at least if you have a good idea for color. But there are other alternatives that might work at least as well. Instead of using the walnut plywood why not use a contrasting material--perhaps maple, or even figured maple. Just might provide an interesting cap to the design. Alternatively, turn some of your air dried walnut into veneer (1/16") thickness or so. Applied to your plywood you would end up with a surface that would take finish exactly the same as the solid walnut.

[John TenEyck]

I agree with Steve. If you are in it this deep, forget the commercial plywood and make your own, or have someone make it for you using some of your AD walnut.

John

[Dave Fairfax]

Thanks, but Im afraid that Im 1500.00 in the hole for the plywood and the pieces I need for the soffits are way to big to use solid stock, unless I glue up multiple pieces. Im gonna start working with some transfast waterbased dyes I suppose.

FYI, the insets of the wainscoting is going to be maple burl

[Frederick Rowe]

Your solid stock has a strong red tint. Using Transfast you should be able to bring the Walnut plywood close to your solid stock. Keep in mind, the room likely doesn't have much/any natural light and as long as you don't have any lighting source shining directly at the bulkheads the variation will be muted.

[Bill McNiel]

"Steaming" is done to minimize (sp?) the difference between heart and sapwood, therefore the difference. IMHO, steamed material sucks.

[Don Huffer]

Thanks, but Im afraid that Im 1500.00 in the hole for the plywood and the pieces I need for the soffits are way to big to use solid stock, unless I glue up multiple pieces. Im gonna start working with some transfast waterbased dyes I suppose.

FYI, the insets of the wainscoting is going to be maple burl

Dave I used some Watco dark walnut wiping varnish on plywood and it came out really well between the plywood and the lumber. I didn't like staining but that's what the client wanted. With the Watco the color wasn't as dark as stain and the wiping varnish made the grain come alive. Might not be as popped as if I had used BLO. But I had a customer calling the shots.

Don

[Dave Fairfax]

I'll give that a try on a test piece. Thanks

I have found some success with medium walnut transfast dye

[Jerry Olexa]

Steamed walnut not a good thing...Sorry to hear...Can you glue up Walnut Panels and replace with this solid stock?

[Dave Fairfax]

I found success using medium brown transfast dye...just had to tweak it a bit, but was actually a whole lot easier than i expected. It will never be the air dried solid stock but it at least matches in tone/hue/color....just doesnt come close to the depth/look of the solid stock grain.

On another note, ive been planing over 1500 b/ft of air dried walnut and have had the best time discovering some beautiful pieces once its surfaced. quite a bit of crotch and curly. Reminds me of opening baseball card packs as a kid..