On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 13:27:46 GMT, Stuart Noble
wrote:

Mike Halmarack wrote:
On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 10:36:17 GMT, Stuart Noble
wrote:


Mike Halmarack wrote:

On 21 Mar 2006 10:20:22 -0800, "macson" wrote:



Can anyone suggest a finish on new pine (thin strips of wood) that has
this colour (3rd door down - victorian door on following site) -

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?im...l%3Den%26lr%3D

I can't use wax due to water splashes. Have tried danish oil but colour
remains the same - ie: new bright Pine, but want the darker look that
the waxed door has . Hope this makes sense. Ideas?


Add some wood stain to the oil. I find that mixing spirit based wood
stain with oil causes the stain to be spread more evenly over the wood
surface.

1-2% vandyke crystals dissolved in 1% caustic soda is probably your best
bet. I've got 20 odd kilos of the stuff somewhere, so let me know if you
have trouble finding it.


Would that work OK on a surface that had already been oiled?


Basically, no. But, with linseed (or other vegetable oils), the caustic
will tend to convert it to a water soluble soap, which would then allow
the colour through. Dunno, it could end up a dog's dinner.

The "colour" on the door you're looking at is almost certainly the
result of caustic dipping rather than any dye being applied to it, and
it's a very difficult effect to reproduce on new pine. It was something
of a holy grail in the 80s when old pine was all the rage.

You could try a 5% caustic soda solution with a tea bag. You get plenty
of colour from tea in an alkaline environment, and the tannins don't
react with iron as they would normally.

FWIW and IME, no combination of Colron type dyes will get you anywhere
near the colour you're looking for.

What you suggest sounds like much more fun than the method I came up
with. The OP now has a selection of methods they can try. I'll
certainly keep your caustic soda recipes in case I ever want to stain
a door.
--
Regards,
Mike Halmarack

Drop the EGG to email me.