quarter sawn white oak

[Ron Knutson]

Making new cabinets for our kitchen and using quarter sawn white oak. Looking for opinions on what everyone thinks are the most favorable stain colors for showing off the the flecking on the species. Thanks in advance for your input.

[Kent A Bathurst]

whichever color you like. THere is a range from light brown up through dark reddish brown. I would guess that the really dark colors may be a bit overwhelming in a kitchen, but then, sometimes that looks great.

But - please - before you start:

What you really want is dye, not stain for color. Then, you probably want to go in with a gel stain to darken the pores - wiping it off so you don't color the flecks. For an excellent step-by-step tutorial on finishing QSWO, go to Jeff Jewitt's site - Homestead Finishing: http://homesteadfinishingproducts.com/

In the bottom right corner you will see a link to Other Articles, where you will find a Stickley Mission Finish Guide.

My advice: Do what it says. A number of guys here follow that scheme - as do I [but I have dinked around slightly with it over the years, but no real changes]. I use stunning bookmatched old-growth QSWO on the pieces I build - $18+/bf - and this is what I do.

I'm suggesting this course because, in your first time at bat, you will easily get a stand-up triple at the very least. No need to reinvent that wheel - you can't end up in a better place than this approach, IMO.

[Scott T Smith]

What Kent said.

Definitely use a dye instead of a stain. A stain is typically comprised of a pigment that lays on top of your wood; changing the color as you look through the stain (similar to looking through a film on a window).

Whereas a dye enters the wood pores and changes the color from within. On high fleck quartersawn oak you will typically see a better contrast between the medullary ray fleck and the early/latewood cells if you use a dye.

If you like the warmth of an oil finish, you can often add the dye directly to the oil.

[Kent A Bathurst]

What Kent said.

Whereas a dye enters the wood pores and changes the color from within. On high fleck quartersawn oak you will typically see a better contrast between the medullary ray fleck and the early/latewood cells if you use a dye.


Yeah - what Scott says. He uses words with more syllables than I. :D :D

[Jeff Johnson]

Ammonia. linseed.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Ammonia. linseed.

There you go - you want to be old-timey correct, fume the piece with ammonia. Google that topic to learn how. I did it a few times, but honestly handling the industrial-strength ammonia became too much of a pain for me.

But - it will give you a tone/color that cannot be duplicated - you can get close, but you can't get there with dye and varnish.

I don't like using BLO as a finish, bu that's just me.

[John TenEyck]

I concur, Kent, Jeff Jewitt's recipes work great and avoid the use of deadly ammonia.

John

[Keith Strong]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?224654-Mission-Style-Mirror-Finished
John Teneyck and Rob Luter helped me with the finish recipe here. Its a Jeff Jewitt recipe. Not sure if you want something fairly dark but PM me, I think I have a few saved when I was looking for this look.