We want to darken our honey oak colored cupboards to a darker brown.
They are lightly stained with some kind of clear coat on top.

There are also a lot of them, and sanding to bare wood is not worth
the labour since they have lots of contours.

I am interested in finding a method where I can clean all the doors
with acetone or some similar spirit, lightly sand and spray a semi
transparent pigment on top, followed by several coats of satin clear
coat.
The idea is to preserve the grain through the new finish.
Is this realistic or am I crazy?

I have heard of tinted clear polyurathanes but am not used them. I
have sprayed plenty of polyurathanes but never tinted clears.
I find this idea attractive because I can also brush it on if I have
to for the sections of cabinetry that cannot be taken outside.

As with any semi transparent spray, getting even coverage would be
challenging and I have the backs of all the doors to practice on..

Any advice here would be encouraging.





Remove all the sevens to e-mail me

On Nov 18, 3:13 pm, wrote:
We want to darken our honey oak colored cupboards to a darker brown.
They are lightly stained with some kind of clear coat on top.

There are also a lot of them, and sanding to bare wood is not worth
the labour since they have lots of contours.

I am interested in finding a method where I can clean all the doors
with acetone or some similar spirit, lightly sand and spray a semi
transparent pigment on top, followed by several coats of satin clear
coat.
The idea is to preserve the grain through the new finish.
Is this realistic or am I crazy?

I have heard of tinted clear polyurathanes but am not used them. I
have sprayed plenty of polyurathanes but never tinted clears.
I find this idea attractive because I can also brush it on if I have
to for the sections of cabinetry that cannot be taken outside.

As with any semi transparent spray, getting even coverage would be
challenging and I have the backs of all the doors to practice on..

Any advice here would be encouraging.

Remove all the sevens to e-mail me

IMHO, the best thing to use to stain without obscuring the grain is a
dye- which won't work for you in this case because you already have a
top coat. Anything else
( gel stain, tinted lacquer, etc ) will obscure will hide the grain to
some degree. Just my 2 cents.
Gene

You can tint most clear coat most film finishes including lacquer and
poly. Mid priced furniture manufactures do this all the time. The
cautions are it is not very repairable, you need to be very careful
about even application to achieve an even tone with no lap marks.
Also, over refurbished material can be even more difficult because any
uneven tone on the base material will telegraph right through. You can
mitigate this by featureing in lighter areas.

Look at Trans Tint colors ay www.homesteadfinishing.com. The specs
should say what materials it can be used in but ploy should surely be
on the list. One trick it to use a very light mix and do lots of
copats to bring it up to the color you want. This can help avoid some
of the difficulties. Keep in mid many coats of a lighter color will be
light. Use a dark color but mix it weak and build it with lots of
coats. No need for clear over the top but it won't hurt.

On Nov 18, 5:13 pm, wrote:
We want to darken our honey oak colored cupboards to a darker brown.
They are lightly stained with some kind of clear coat on top.

There are also a lot of them, and sanding to bare wood is not worth
the labour since they have lots of contours.

I am interested in finding a method where I can clean all the doors
with acetone or some similar spirit, lightly sand and spray a semi
transparent pigment on top, followed by several coats of satin clear
coat.
The idea is to preserve the grain through the new finish.
Is this realistic or am I crazy?

I have heard of tinted clear polyurathanes but am not used them. I
have sprayed plenty of polyurathanes but never tinted clears.
I find this idea attractive because I can also brush it on if I have
to for the sections of cabinetry that cannot be taken outside.

As with any semi transparent spray, getting even coverage would be
challenging and I have the backs of all the doors to practice on..

Any advice here would be encouraging.

Remove all the sevens to e-mail me

wrote:

We want to darken our honey oak colored cupboards to a darker brown.
They are lightly stained with some kind of clear coat on top.

There are also a lot of them, and sanding to bare wood is not worth
the labour since they have lots of contours.

I am interested in finding a method where I can clean all the doors
with acetone or some similar spirit, lightly sand and spray a semi
transparent pigment on top, followed by several coats of satin clear
coat.
The idea is to preserve the grain through the new finish.
Is this realistic or am I crazy?

I have heard of tinted clear polyurathanes but am not used them. I
have sprayed plenty of polyurathanes but never tinted clears.
I find this idea attractive because I can also brush it on if I have
to for the sections of cabinetry that cannot be taken outside.

As with any semi transparent spray, getting even coverage would be
challenging and I have the backs of all the doors to practice on..

Any advice here would be encouraging.

Behlen's sells tinted nitrocellulose lacquer in various shades in
"rattle cans" under the name of "Master Toner". See"

http://www.abbotpaint.com/department...(B103%20Series)

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA

wrote in message
...

We want to darken our honey oak colored cupboards to a darker brown.
They are lightly stained with some kind of clear coat on top.


You could try some of this stuff.
http://www.sprayonmud.com/

--
********
Bill Pounds
http://www.billpounds.com

I found something that works well. It is tinted polyurathane. Not for
the careless but if careful the results are fabulous.
I used Minwax polyshades. I brushed the bits between the
doors, and sprayed the doors.



Spray on mud is the most pathetic thing I have seen for a very long
time. It amazes me how easily some people are parted with thier money.

You could try some of this stuff.
http://www.sprayonmud.com/
You must take all the sevens out of my email address for it to work

On Nov 18, 8:13 pm, wrote:
We want to darken our honey oak colored cupboards to a darker brown.
They are lightly stained with some kind of clear coat on top.

There are also a lot of them, and sanding to bare wood is not worth
the labour since they have lots of contours.

I am interested in finding a method where I can clean all the doors
with acetone or some similar spirit, lightly sand and spray a semi
transparent pigment on top, followed by several coats of satin clear
coat.
The idea is to preserve the grain through the new finish.
Is this realistic or am I crazy?

I have heard of tinted clear polyurathanes but am not used them. I
have sprayed plenty of polyurathanes but never tinted clears.
I find this idea attractive because I can also brush it on if I have
to for the sections of cabinetry that cannot be taken outside.

As with any semi transparent spray, getting even coverage would be
challenging and I have the backs of all the doors to practice on..

Any advice here would be encouraging.

Remove all the sevens to e-mail me

See if you can find a copy of "Adventures in Wood Finishing", by
George Frank. He tells of a way to darken oak without removing the
finish. It might work in your case, or it might not. Should be worth
a try, though.

Of course, if you really want to refinish, others have given you
advice.....

If you can't find the book, here's a hint: ammonia fuming.

John Martin