VERY Dark Stain

[Tony Falcone]

Hi all; great forum!

I'd like to build a display cabinet using a very dark coffee color stain (black, no cream :)). It's a very popular look right now in store bought furniture especially in stores like Pottery Barn etc. I'm trying to decide what wood/stain combination to use. The stain they use is so dark that you barely see the grain of the wood (blasphemy I know), so I think it would be a waste to use something as nice as mahogany or walnut. I'd like to use a very tight grained wood that won't need filling so I'm thinking birch could be a good choice. I'm worried about blotching but guessing that the stain will be so dark that it will hide it.

I've ordered some dark TransTints and gel stains to try out and would like to topcoat with General PolyAcrylic Semi-gloss . I don't have access to spray equipment so all the finishing will be done by hand.

Any thoughts on how to achieve this look? I'm a novice so please spell it all out as clearly as possible.

[Al Wasser]

This is a bit dangerous so be warned--- Make your own stain by mixing roofing tar and gasoline. You can get it as dark as you want by just increasing the tar. Mix it up good and try some samples. It does work good. Wipe it on and wipe it off. One you are happy with the mix be sure you have enough to do the whole job since the second batch may not match the first unless you measured carefully. Keep the smokers, pilot lights, etc away!!! I suppose you could also mix roofing tar and paint thinner and that might be a bit less hazardous

[Tony Falcone]

This is a bit dangerous so be warned--- Make your own stain by mixing roofing tar and gasoline. You can get it as dark as you want by just increasing the tar. Mix it up good and try some samples. It does work good. Wipe it on and wipe it off. One you are happy with the mix be sure you have enough to do the whole job since the second batch may not match the first unless you measured carefully. Keep the smokers, pilot lights, etc away!!! I suppose you could also mix roofing tar and paint thinner and that might be a bit less hazardous

I'm guessing this is some form of hazing for newbies on the forum? :)
That's way outside my my comfort range. I'll be doing all of the work in my basement shop and need to use as many non-flammable, water based products as possible.

[Tyler Purcell]

Do a search for "ebonizing" wood. I've never done it but I believe it involves dying the wood using india ink.

[Steve Schoene]

I prefer TransFast or other powdered dyes that mix only in water. You can get a very dark color with dye by making a concentrated mix, and blotching will be present but quite muted. You can then lightly seal this with shellac. If you use Transtint and apply the shellac by padding it or brushing you can redissolve some of the dye and move it around. Then you can minimize the remaining blotches with a pigmented gel stain. You still want to wipe off excess--otherwise you might as well paint the surface with dark brown paint. But one or two applications of the gel stain will add depth and evenness to the color.

[Steve Schoene]

Don't use gasoline. You can get exactly the same coloration effects by dissolving the roofing tar with naptha or mineral spirits without nearly the risks of gasoline. Might take just a little longer to dissolve. Besides, unless you can find white gas, why have all the various additives whose purposes are unknown to me but undoubtedly unrelated to use as a finishing solvent. By the way, the colorant in roofing tar is also called asphaltum and contributes the dark brown color to certain finishes such as Watco walnut Danish Oil. It's a good colorant, basically a super fine pigment that acts more like a dye.

[Tony Falcone]

Thanks guys.
I'm going to try the Transfast and see how that looks and if it's not dark enough, I'll try the roofing tar in mineral spirits. I'm guessing the roofing tar stain will need a coat of shellac before I top coat with a water based finish?