DIYbanter - Coffee Stain Experient Update

Those of you who have been here longer than all day know I am
trying to get away from toxic stuff, So, I've switched to water-based
poly (which I'm quite happy with), tea stain (which has worked nicely),
latex paint where I can, etc. - all water cleanup, versus mineral
spirits or paint thinner. And, have tried coffee stain, with mixed
results.

I was out in the shop knocking out some of my knock-down bookshelf
units, and ran across my test piece, with my coffe stain tries. It has
one coat of coffee, two, three, and four. The last time I'd seen it, it
was about two weeks after the test, and the three and four coat test
were still sticky, the four coat markedly mor so.

Part of the problem may have been that I didn't allow enough time
between coats for the coffee to dry sufficiently, befor putting on the
next coat. I almost wixh now, I'd stuck the test piece somewhere I
could frequently check on it, because the results look pretty good.
That would have given me an idea of how long it took for the coats to
dry.

Anyway, the single coat had dried within a reasonable time. I don't
recall now if it was overnight, or a few hours. It looks good, a nice
coffee color.

The two coats also looks good, quite a bit darker than just one
coat. I recall it didn't take significantly longer to dry than the
single coat.

The three coats are very dark. It took long enough to dry that I
stuck it in the shop while it was still tacky - a couple of weeks as far
as I can recall.

The four coats are not really noticeably darker than the three
coats. So, I don't feel it would be worth the extra time. Plus, it
probably took longer to try.

I used instant coffee to brew this up, very, very, strong. I don't
know if it would have dried faster if it had been weaker, or not. I
think it might. I've got a project pending that I think would look very
nice with the same shade as the two coats of coffee, so I may do some
more testing with this.

The tea stain dries very quickly, and multiple coats goes pretty
rapidly. It gives a nice shade, but not not nearly as dark as the
coffee stain. I tried adding food dye, but it didn't do enough to make
it worthwhile.

I also tried adding a bit of latex paint to the tea, which did give
a pleasing result, but I think just thinning the latex, without the tea,
would do just as well - making a wash, or stain, rather than a thick
paint surface. This needs some more research, but I think it will give
more a colored stain, rather than a "wood" stain look. I came up with a
very nice tarnished copper look this way, for one of my protypes. I
think this method could be very nice in some applications, especially
stuff for kids.

An afterthought. Since I tried Turtle Wax shoe polish, I've been
looking for more since. It worked quite nicely, but not been able to
find more. I tried Kiwi shoe polish too, which I can find, but I'm not
satisfied with that at all. So, looks like I'll just stick with
Johnson's paste wax, which also works quite nicely. Still got almost
two full cans. Hehehehe

JOAT
You'll never get anywhere if you believe what you "hear". What do you
"know"?.
- Granny Weatherwax