Keeping white oak, white?

[Al Willits]

Wife has decided to take me up on the "with all these new tools I'm buying I can redo your kitchen cabinets honey" pomise I made in a weak moment and now wants the doors to be white oak, ok I can deal with it, but then she says they need to stay light colored and still show the grain.

I wanted Tung oil first, then a poly, but she says that will darken them, so I thought maybe natural Watco and poly, but not sure on that either.

Any suggestions for me/her?
tia

Al who thinks his one class on finishes may only have touched the surface...:)

[Steve Schoene]

Tung oil, Watco or any oil based varnish, including polyurethane varnishes will contribute to yellowing of the oak. Differences among specific brands will be pretty minor, although alkyd/soya varnishes (such as Pratt & Lambert 38) will be a bit lighter than the choices you mentioned.

But to avoid the basic darkening effect--similar to the color you get when you wet the oak with naptha or mineral spirits, you have to avoid the oil altogether and go with a waterborne finish. Target and Fuhr are well respected brands. Super blonde shellac also has relatively little darkening. In addition neither of these will darken much over time, another contrast to oil based finishes.

However, you are still not out of the woods. The oak itself will darken somewhat over time and there is little that can be done to prevent it. (One gauge of this is the color of rough sawn lumber. The darkening won't be nearly as much as cherry.) But this is the charm of wood, and the effect will be gradual.

[Alan Turner]

Al,
One way to handle this problem is to cheat a bit. Add just a touch of oil-based white paint to some BLO and wipe it on and off quickly. Experiment a bit. The small amount of white pigment will go into the pores of the oak. Think furniture from the 1950's. I did this on a white oak chest of drawers some time ago, may 4 -5 years ago, and it is still quite light. I used a light shellac on top of the BLO and it worked great, if that is the color you seek.

[Todd Burch]

Bartley's has a gel finish called Provincial White. It is good for the whitewashed look of the 50's. It works well.

[Al Willits]

Thanks, I'll give them all a try, slowing getting the little shebeast to apreceate the dark side, and if the wood darkens a bit after awhile, that'll prob be ok.
Lighter in the kitchen would be nice though.

Considering when I started in woodworking a couple of months ago, she thought jatoba was waaay to dark, now she wants her end tables and coffee table (TV stand) out of it.


There may be hope...:)

Al