On Tuesday, June 24, 2014 6:55:05 AM UTC-5, Leon wrote:

Why not have a local Sherman Williams mix you an Alkid oil based semigloss

jet black paint and skip the varnish?



The more closed grain the wood, the smoother the results will look.

That's the ticket. No stain or dye will get you to Jet Black. They aren't designed to do it, so they won't. To get to dead black, you need to completely obscure the grain and the texture, otherwise ambient light will trick your eye with reflectivity issues.

About 30 years ago I was still afraid to shoot lacquer, and colored lacquer was out of the question. I had to match some furniture (remember all the black stuff back then?) and all I could find was "piano black" lacquer which completely intimidated me. Spray only, too. My skills weren't up to speed for non-latex products then.

In comes the cavalry. I called a finisher (not a painter...) and had him come over. After a few ideas were tossed around, he worked me up a test piece of his proposal and I liked it. The wood pieces in question (a cube coffee table and lamp table) finished according to his process and the client was thrilled.

The wood was sanded to 220gr. A coat of sanding sealer was applied, sanded, recoated, then resanded. A coat of "long oil" (what they used to call the oil based products before they all became alkyd resin) oil based paint was applied with a hair (oil base specific china bristle)brush. Coat #2 was applied, and allowed to set for 24 hours before handling. I had the client wait one week before putting anything on either table, and the paint worked out great.

Since it was a table, if I wasn't going to spray, I would pad the paint on the large surfaces and brush in the details. Due to their long layout time, using a pad with oil based products can yield near spray quality (and in come cases the same!) for flat surfaces. Economical, too. I use the pad once, and toss it with no clean up. Note I am saying "pad" not foam. You can find something similar to this at the big box stores:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Shur-Line...500H/100186429

If your project isn't too large, you might consider black lacquer that comes in rattle cans. I finished a fireplace mantle with some spray lacquer they sold me at one of the local paint stores (think you could probably buy it at a box store) and it turned out very well. I don't know about the availability in your area, but I used this:

http://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-190.../dp/B000C01534

Good stuff.

Robert