Dark Circles using dyes on red oak

[Michael Richardson]

Howdy,

What are the options available for dealing with the dark circles in red oak after applying dyes? I've tried water and alcohol based dyes.

Thanks
Michael

[Charles McKinley]

Stop putting your coffe cup on it while you are finishing. :D

I hope that this bumps it up and someone that can help you sees it.

[Jamie Buxton]

Can you show us a pic?

[Jim Becker]

Sounds like a sanding problem to me if you used a ROS...always wash down your workpiece with mineral spirits before starting any finishing to see if there are any sanding issues. It's also a good idea to do this between grits to insure a stray piece of the coarser grit doesn't scratch the surface when you move to finer abrasive in the next step.

[Howard Acheson]

Not sure what you mean by "circles". Do you mean the circles around the pores?

Dyes can be problematic in oak. The surface tension in water and alcohol can prevent the dye from going down into the pores. It sort of stretches across the opening of the pores and no color gets down into the pores. Is that what you are seeing?

[Michael Richardson]

Hey Howie,

Yep, it's that tension issue. Found a lot of info on it and now trying to make it happen correctly. Sure can be a pain in the butt when you want to take your finishing technique up a notch.

(You seem to be everywhere, Howie. That's great and thanks for sharing your knowledge.)

Michael J