About 10 years ago a made a dresser from red oak to match in as much detail
as possible an existing red oak dresser in our bedroom.

Time has passed and we moved the original red oak furniture out to another
room and bought some cherry furniture that must be stained because it is
fairly dark.

Problem: how to refinish my red oak dresser to at least fit in with new
furniture. I don't expect it to look much like what we bought but I would
like the finish to be closer than what I have now.

I finished the red oak dresser with poly. I have read about a way to get
poly off using orange gel paint remover. Sounds like a nasty job especially
on the drawer fronts which have a lot of three dimensionality to them
(raised pulls etc etc.) Is there any product I can use that would work OVER
the poly?

TIA.

Dick Snyder

[...snip...]

Is there any product I can use that would work OVER
the poly?


You might consider dewaxed shellac. I'd start with cleaning the
dresser, then a 1+/- lb washcoat of blonde shellac. Then you can apply
a stain as a "toner" layer and then apply shellac over it to "seal"
the stain in, or just tint the shellac with Transtint or alcohol based
dye.

Once that's done, if you want something more durable, you could put on
more poly or pretty much anything else over the shellac.

I mix my shellac from flakes; if you use Zinnser Sealcoat, check the
can to be sure it isn't more than 3 years old.

"Jim Weisgram" wrote in message
...
[...snip...]

Is there any product I can use that would work OVER
the poly?


You might consider dewaxed shellac. I'd start with cleaning the
dresser, then a 1+/- lb washcoat of blonde shellac. Then you can apply
a stain as a "toner" layer and then apply shellac over it to "seal"
the stain in, or just tint the shellac with Transtint or alcohol based
dye.

Once that's done, if you want something more durable, you could put on
more poly or pretty much anything else over the shellac.

I mix my shellac from flakes; if you use Zinnser Sealcoat, check the
can to be sure it isn't more than 3 years old.

Thanks Jim. That seems like a lot less hassle than trying to remove the
poly. A couple of days ago I made a test board of oak with two coats of
poly. I will give this solution a shot. In your experience do you think I
will have better luck applying stain over the shellac or tinting it as I
apply it? I am trying to recolor red oak (has a slight orange tint after 10
years) to something that will go with a darkish cherry. The two dressers
are 10 feet apart so I am not trying to match so much as make the
differences not stand out so much.

Dick

"Dick Snyder" wrote in message
...

"Jim Weisgram" wrote in message
...
[...snip...]

Is there any product I can use that would work OVER
the poly?


You might consider dewaxed shellac. I'd start with cleaning the
dresser, then a 1+/- lb washcoat of blonde shellac. Then you can apply
a stain as a "toner" layer and then apply shellac over it to "seal"
the stain in, or just tint the shellac with Transtint or alcohol based
dye.

Once that's done, if you want something more durable, you could put on
more poly or pretty much anything else over the shellac.

I mix my shellac from flakes; if you use Zinnser Sealcoat, check the
can to be sure it isn't more than 3 years old.

Thanks Jim. That seems like a lot less hassle than trying to remove the
poly. A couple of days ago I made a test board of oak with two coats of
poly. I will give this solution a shot. In your experience do you think I
will have better luck applying stain over the shellac or tinting it as I
apply it? I am trying to recolor red oak (has a slight orange tint after 10
years) to something that will go with a darkish cherry. The two dressers
are 10 feet apart so I am not trying to match so much as make the
differences not stand out so much.

Dick


Another possibility is to just use colored poly like Norm does.
Be sure to thoroughly clean the piece first and scuff sand it.
Art

"Artemus" wrote in message
...

"Dick Snyder" wrote in message
...

"Jim Weisgram" wrote in message
...
[...snip...]

Is there any product I can use that would work OVER
the poly?


You might consider dewaxed shellac. I'd start with cleaning the
dresser, then a 1+/- lb washcoat of blonde shellac. Then you can apply
a stain as a "toner" layer and then apply shellac over it to "seal"
the stain in, or just tint the shellac with Transtint or alcohol based
dye.

Once that's done, if you want something more durable, you could put on
more poly or pretty much anything else over the shellac.

I mix my shellac from flakes; if you use Zinnser Sealcoat, check the
can to be sure it isn't more than 3 years old.

Thanks Jim. That seems like a lot less hassle than trying to remove the
poly. A couple of days ago I made a test board of oak with two coats of
poly. I will give this solution a shot. In your experience do you think I
will have better luck applying stain over the shellac or tinting it as I
apply it? I am trying to recolor red oak (has a slight orange tint after
10
years) to something that will go with a darkish cherry. The two dressers
are 10 feet apart so I am not trying to match so much as make the
differences not stand out so much.

Dick


Another possibility is to just use colored poly like Norm does.
Be sure to thoroughly clean the piece first and scuff sand it.
Art


I don't recall Norm doing that. Did he mix stain in the poly?

"Dick Snyder" wrote in message
...

"Artemus" wrote in message
...

"Dick Snyder" wrote in message
...

"Jim Weisgram" wrote in message
...
[...snip...]

Is there any product I can use that would work OVER
the poly?


You might consider dewaxed shellac. I'd start with cleaning the
dresser, then a 1+/- lb washcoat of blonde shellac. Then you can apply
a stain as a "toner" layer and then apply shellac over it to "seal"
the stain in, or just tint the shellac with Transtint or alcohol based
dye.

Once that's done, if you want something more durable, you could put on
more poly or pretty much anything else over the shellac.

I mix my shellac from flakes; if you use Zinnser Sealcoat, check the
can to be sure it isn't more than 3 years old.

Thanks Jim. That seems like a lot less hassle than trying to remove the
poly. A couple of days ago I made a test board of oak with two coats of
poly. I will give this solution a shot. In your experience do you think I
will have better luck applying stain over the shellac or tinting it as I
apply it? I am trying to recolor red oak (has a slight orange tint after
10
years) to something that will go with a darkish cherry. The two dressers
are 10 feet apart so I am not trying to match so much as make the
differences not stand out so much.

Dick


Another possibility is to just use colored poly like Norm does.
Be sure to thoroughly clean the piece first and scuff sand it.
Art


I don't recall Norm doing that. Did he mix stain in the poly?


He uses it on just about every show they are rerunning here in
the Portland OR area for the last few months. I don't recall him
ever saying if he mixes it himself or buys it.

Google give lot's of hits on "tinted polyurethane finish".
Art

On Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:14:19 -0500, "Dick Snyder"
wrote:

About 10 years ago a made a dresser from red oak to match in as much detail
as possible an existing red oak dresser in our bedroom.

Time has passed and we moved the original red oak furniture out to another
room and bought some cherry furniture that must be stained because it is
fairly dark.

Problem: how to refinish my red oak dresser to at least fit in with new
furniture. I don't expect it to look much like what we bought but I would
like the finish to be closer than what I have now.

I finished the red oak dresser with poly. I have read about a way to get
poly off using orange gel paint remover.

That or the nasty chemical strippers using MEK. The orange goo is
very simple but messy. Go for it...if you must.


Sounds like a nasty job especially
on the drawer fronts which have a lot of three dimensionality to them
(raised pulls etc etc.) Is there any product I can use that would work OVER
the poly?

Polyshades, but...

I'd suggest refinishing the cherry furniture instead, Dick. That
said, it is possible that they took the worst clashing pieces and
stained the crap out of them to finally get a match.

G'luck.

--
Education is when you read the fine print.
Experience is what you get if you don't.
-- Pete Seeger

On Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:14:19 -0500, "Dick Snyder"
wrote:

About 10 years ago a made a dresser from red oak to match in as much detail
as possible an existing red oak dresser in our bedroom.

Time has passed and we moved the original red oak furniture out to another
room and bought some cherry furniture that must be stained because it is
fairly dark.

Problem: how to refinish my red oak dresser to at least fit in with new
furniture. I don't expect it to look much like what we bought but I would
like the finish to be closer than what I have now.

I finished the red oak dresser with poly. I have read about a way to get
poly off using orange gel paint remover. Sounds like a nasty job especially
on the drawer fronts which have a lot of three dimensionality to them
(raised pulls etc etc.) Is there any product I can use that would work OVER
the poly?

TIA.

Dick Snyder

Dick, if you are a good woodworker, it might be easier just to make
another new dresser.

Clare Snyder

In article ,
says...

On Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:14:19 -0500, "Dick Snyder"
wrote:

About 10 years ago a made a dresser from red oak to match in as much detail
as possible an existing red oak dresser in our bedroom.

Time has passed and we moved the original red oak furniture out to another
room and bought some cherry furniture that must be stained because it is
fairly dark.

Problem: how to refinish my red oak dresser to at least fit in with new
furniture. I don't expect it to look much like what we bought but I would
like the finish to be closer than what I have now.

I finished the red oak dresser with poly. I have read about a way to get
poly off using orange gel paint remover. Sounds like a nasty job especially
on the drawer fronts which have a lot of three dimensionality to them
(raised pulls etc etc.) Is there any product I can use that would work OVER
the poly?

TIA.

Dick Snyder

Dick, if you are a good woodworker, it might be easier just to make
another new dresser.

Another application for the much-maligned Minwax Polyshades.

On Sat, 20 Nov 2010 21:37:01 -0700, J. Clarke wrote
(in article ocal):

In article ,
says...

On Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:14:19 -0500, "Dick Snyder"
wrote:

About 10 years ago a made a dresser from red oak to match in as much
detail
as possible an existing red oak dresser in our bedroom.

Time has passed and we moved the original red oak furniture out to another
room and bought some cherry furniture that must be stained because it is
fairly dark.

Problem: how to refinish my red oak dresser to at least fit in with new
furniture. I don't expect it to look much like what we bought but I would
like the finish to be closer than what I have now.

I finished the red oak dresser with poly. I have read about a way to get
poly off using orange gel paint remover. Sounds like a nasty job
especially
on the drawer fronts which have a lot of three dimensionality to them
(raised pulls etc etc.) Is there any product I can use that would work
OVER
the poly?

TIA.

Dick Snyder

Dick, if you are a good woodworker, it might be easier just to make
another new dresser.

Another application for the much-maligned Minwax Polyshades.



I've done this by just tinting some poly with the appropriate stain and then
top coating. You can go darker and change the hue, but obviously going
lighter doesn't work with this method.

Look at a color chart to determine what to do. I can't remember for sure at
the moment, but to kill a reddish hue, apply a yellow/greenish stain (again,
look at a color chart to verify this)

-Bruce

On Sat, 20 Nov 2010 15:57:40 -0500, Dick Snyder wrote:

In your experience do you think I
will have better luck applying stain over the shellac or tinting it as I
apply it?

I use shellac a lot. I usually wipe on a couple of coats of clear first,
then one or more coats with dye until I get the shade I want, and then
finish up with a few more coats of clear.

BTW, I know Zinnser says 3 years, but on those rare occasions when it
lasts that long I toss it after 2 years (from date of manufacture).

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

[...snip...]
In your experience do you think I
will have better luck applying stain over the shellac or tinting it as I
apply it? I am trying to recolor red oak (has a slight orange tint after 10
years) to something that will go with a darkish cherry. The two dressers
are 10 feet apart so I am not trying to match so much as make the
differences not stand out so much.

Dick


I think either way should work.

Logically it seems more direct to apply stain over the shellac and
work to get the final color you want and then more shellac to seal
that in. Compare that to using a dye in the shellac and then sneaking
up to a final color with multiple coats of tinted shellac, it seems
like you will get there quicker.

But personally I am not a big fan of stain, since it tends to obscure
the grain. I've have not used it for this type of application.
Practicing on test boards seems like the best way to go with either
stain or dye. If you add varying tints to different small samples of
shellac onto a test board you should be able to zero in fairly
quickly.

comments about tinted poly. Seems to me that multiple coats of
poly will take much longer to work out the right tints and number of
coats since the drying time is quite long by comparison to shellac,
which dries very quickly. If you are putting on multiple poly coats,
be sure to use gloss rather than satin, because satin includes silica
particles that cloud the effect as more coats go on. You can use a
clear satin as the final coat.

If I was applying new poly over older poly, I'd still use shellac as a
barrier coat in between. For example, if some silicone based wax has
been used on the piece, it can cause fisheyes, even after careful
cleaning. The shellac is good insurance.

"Jim Weisgram" wrote in message
...
[...snip...]
In your experience do you think I
will have better luck applying stain over the shellac or tinting it as I
apply it? I am trying to recolor red oak (has a slight orange tint after
10
years) to something that will go with a darkish cherry. The two dressers
are 10 feet apart so I am not trying to match so much as make the
differences not stand out so much.

Dick


I think either way should work.

Logically it seems more direct to apply stain over the shellac and
work to get the final color you want and then more shellac to seal
that in. Compare that to using a dye in the shellac and then sneaking
up to a final color with multiple coats of tinted shellac, it seems
like you will get there quicker.

But personally I am not a big fan of stain, since it tends to obscure
the grain. I've have not used it for this type of application.
Practicing on test boards seems like the best way to go with either
stain or dye. If you add varying tints to different small samples of
shellac onto a test board you should be able to zero in fairly
quickly.

comments about tinted poly. Seems to me that multiple coats of
poly will take much longer to work out the right tints and number of
coats since the drying time is quite long by comparison to shellac,
which dries very quickly. If you are putting on multiple poly coats,
be sure to use gloss rather than satin, because satin includes silica
particles that cloud the effect as more coats go on. You can use a
clear satin as the final coat.

If I was applying new poly over older poly, I'd still use shellac as a
barrier coat in between. For example, if some silicone based wax has
been used on the piece, it can cause fisheyes, even after careful
cleaning. The shellac is good insurance.

I want to obscure the grain. The dresser I want to work on is made of red
oak - VERY grainy - but the dresser I want to match in color value is some
kind of stained cherry.

Thanks for all the help everyone. I am off to work on my samples. I'll
probably have to make a bunch more!

"Bruce" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 20 Nov 2010 21:37:01 -0700, J. Clarke wrote
(in article ocal):

In article ,
says...

On Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:14:19 -0500, "Dick Snyder"
wrote:

About 10 years ago a made a dresser from red oak to match in as much
detail
as possible an existing red oak dresser in our bedroom.

Time has passed and we moved the original red oak furniture out to
another
room and bought some cherry furniture that must be stained because it
is
fairly dark.

Problem: how to refinish my red oak dresser to at least fit in with new
furniture. I don't expect it to look much like what we bought but I
would
like the finish to be closer than what I have now.

I finished the red oak dresser with poly. I have read about a way to
get
poly off using orange gel paint remover. Sounds like a nasty job
especially
on the drawer fronts which have a lot of three dimensionality to them
(raised pulls etc etc.) Is there any product I can use that would work
OVER
the poly?

TIA.

Dick Snyder

Dick, if you are a good woodworker, it might be easier just to make
another new dresser.

Another application for the much-maligned Minwax Polyshades.



I've done this by just tinting some poly with the appropriate stain and
then
top coating. You can go darker and change the hue, but obviously going
lighter doesn't work with this method.

Look at a color chart to determine what to do. I can't remember for sure
at
the moment, but to kill a reddish hue, apply a yellow/greenish stain
(again,
look at a color chart to verify this)

-Bruce


According to my color wheel I would use some combo of blue and purple to
kill the yellow/orange of my 10 year old red oak

Try some "wood conditioner" or wood sealer and then "paint" the stain on or
use coloured poly urethane and build up the colour so it sits on top and not
in the grain.

Make sure you use the same brand of poly as the stain or it bubbles and goes
streaky with thick stain coatings.


"Dick Snyder" wrote in message
...
I want to obscure the grain. The dresser I want to work on is made of red
oak - VERY grainy - but the dresser I want to match in color value is some
kind of stained cherry.

Thanks for all the help everyone. I am off to work on my samples. I'll
probably have to make a bunch more!

On Mon, 22 Nov 2010 09:19:29 -0500, "Dick Snyder"
wrote:

I want to obscure the grain. The dresser I want to work on is made of red
oak - VERY grainy - but the dresser I want to match in color value is some
kind of stained cherry.

Disgusting, IMnsHO. Use a grain filler (Behlen Por-O-Pac, etc.) to
fill pores and flatten the grain of the oak, too.


Thanks for all the help everyone. I am off to work on my samples. I'll
probably have to make a bunch more!

No doubt, and check them with the lighting you'll have in the room you
put them. Different lighting shows different features of the stain.

--
Experience is a good teacher, but she send in terrific bills.
-- Minna Thomas Antrim

Problem: how to refinish my red oak dresser to at least fit in with new

Use a Gel Stain, it is just poly and color premixed. Clean and lighly
sand first.

Why change it? Nothing wrong with mixed colors. I have seen some oak
furniture stained to try and match cherry and I did not care for it, but
thats just me. Also as a 10 year old you should use anti fisheye.
Don't forget all the dints and dings tell a story.

Joe M.
"Dick Snyder" wrote in message
...
About 10 years ago a made a dresser from red oak to match in as much
detail as possible an existing red oak dresser in our bedroom.

Time has passed and we moved the original red oak furniture out to another
room and bought some cherry furniture that must be stained because it is
fairly dark.

Problem: how to refinish my red oak dresser to at least fit in with new
furniture. I don't expect it to look much like what we bought but I would
like the finish to be closer than what I have now.

I finished the red oak dresser with poly. I have read about a way to get
poly off using orange gel paint remover. Sounds like a nasty job
especially on the drawer fronts which have a lot of three dimensionality
to them (raised pulls etc etc.) Is there any product I can use that would
work OVER the poly?

TIA.

Dick Snyder

On Mon, 22 Nov 2010 07:26:37 -0700, Dick Snyder wrote
(in article ) :


I've done this by just tinting some poly with the appropriate stain and
then
top coating. You can go darker and change the hue, but obviously going
lighter doesn't work with this method.

Look at a color chart to determine what to do. I can't remember for sure
at
the moment, but to kill a reddish hue, apply a yellow/greenish stain
(again,
look at a color chart to verify this)

-Bruce


According to my color wheel I would use some combo of blue and purple to
kill the yellow/orange of my 10 year old red oak


Ummm, you're not mixing paint.

Using a reddish (Mahogany) tint over a yellowish surface will produce a more
brownish tone.