Philipine/Luan Mahogany Staining

[Benjamin Hall]

Does anyone have tips for staining Luan Mahogany. I plan on staining it a touch darker. Would you recommend gel stain, or liquid stain, or the use of a wood conditioner first to avoid blotchiness?

[Bill McNiel]

Ben- I am by no means an expert finisher but I did have a commission earlier this year, or maybe last year, to build a desk that replicated the client's sport fishing boat's transom. Ok, so more of a case of "allude to" vs "replicated". In any case the piece had a fair amount of Mahogany (top is solid 4/4 with added 4/4 underedging to add thickness for rubrail, curved face is a veneer and the drawer fronts are 3/4 solid).

I sanded to 220, then wet the surface to raise the grain, applied Timber Mate Walnut Pore Filler (always a good idea to use a darker pore filler IMHO), sanded again, stained with General Finishes Dye Stain (combined a couple of colors and added a few drops of Transtint (did 16 samples for the owner to choose from), then WaterLox Original, then many coats of WaterLox Gloss, wait for 30 days cure time and rubbed out with MicroMesh. I subbed out the Gel Coat "Fighting Lady Yellow" to a guy who does it for a living.

Hope this helps.

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