I am on a fool's errand; trying to "match" an existing piece. It is Ethan
Allen's dark cherry, which I suppose is a tinted lacquer.
The closest I have come is a cherry dye with Minwax Rosewood gel stain. It
not quite dark enough, and looks too much like wood. Besides, dealing with
the raised grain from the cherry dye is not an attractive thought.
I have been surfing the stain manufacturer's pages and have come across
Bartley Jet Mahogany. Unfortunately the only store I know that carries
Bartley is on the other side of town, so I thought I would post here first
to see if it is worth the trip.
Has anyone tried this product? The look I am aiming for is pretty dark
brown with just the vaguest hint of grain coming through. (I know, maybe an
outdoor "semi-transparent!)
Yeh, I know, why would anyone do something this horrible to nice cherry.
Sorry but it was't my idea; the piece looks so good now.
On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 01:51:03 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> wrote:
>I am on a fool's errand; trying to "match" an existing piece. It is Ethan
>Allen's dark cherry, which I suppose is a tinted lacquer.
>The closest I have come is a cherry dye with Minwax Rosewood gel stain. It
>not quite dark enough, and looks too much like wood. Besides, dealing with
>the raised grain from the cherry dye is not an attractive thought.
>
>I have been surfing the stain manufacturer's pages and have come across
>Bartley Jet Mahogany. Unfortunately the only store I know that carries
>Bartley is on the other side of town, so I thought I would post here first
>to see if it is worth the trip.
>
>Has anyone tried this product? The look I am aiming for is pretty dark
>brown with just the vaguest hint of grain coming through. (I know, maybe an
>outdoor "semi-transparent!)
>
>Yeh, I know, why would anyone do something this horrible to nice cherry.
>Sorry but it was't my idea; the piece looks so good now.
>
hey, I betcha the wood under that ethan allen rbs isn't actually
cherry. alder has about the right grain and takes stain well.....
"Toller" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I am on a fool's errand; trying to "match" an existing piece. It is Ethan
> Allen's dark cherry, which I suppose is a tinted lacquer.
> The closest I have come is a cherry dye with Minwax Rosewood gel stain.
It
> not quite dark enough, and looks too much like wood. Besides, dealing
with
> the raised grain from the cherry dye is not an attractive thought.
>
> I have been surfing the stain manufacturer's pages and have come across
> Bartley Jet Mahogany. Unfortunately the only store I know that carries
> Bartley is on the other side of town, so I thought I would post here first
> to see if it is worth the trip.
>
> Has anyone tried this product? The look I am aiming for is pretty dark
> brown with just the vaguest hint of grain coming through. (I know, maybe
an
> outdoor "semi-transparent!)
>
> Yeh, I know, why would anyone do something this horrible to nice cherry.
> Sorry but it was't my idea; the piece looks so good now.
I recently used Bartley Jet Mahogany on a cherry table I made for an
acquaintance. I tried to persuade against it, but he really wanted a dark
color right now. Actually, I was pretty pleased with the results. I put a
top coat on of several coats of Bartley Gel Varnish. I posted a pic in
a.b.p.w in case you want to see how it looks.
todd
From my experience, you will never match the piece with stain alone.
Your best bet (and I am assuming that you have or have access to
somewhat suitable spray equipment) is to add some dye (I use
transtint) to lacquer, and gradually tint the piece until you achieve
the match. I keep two different batches available, one that is redder
than the other, so that you can switch between the browner and the
redder as you get close to the match. Of course, if it is a valuable
piece, your best bet is to practice on a scrap piece of wood. When I
did this I used minwax cherry pigment as a starting point. I have
used Bartley's Cherry and Mahogany before, and would be hesitant to
start with the Mahogany without a test piece, as it may bring too much
brown into the picture early.
I can say without question that glazing with tinted nitrocellulose (I
haven't yet tried glazing with waterborne lacquer, but won't hesitate
to give it a try) will yield you a very close match if care is given
with multiple coats.
I repeat, I seriously doubt you will ever come close to matching the
existing finish without glazing as I have described.
Good luck
dd
On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 01:51:03 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> wrote:
>I am on a fool's errand; trying to "match" an existing piece. It is Ethan
>Allen's dark cherry, which I suppose is a tinted lacquer.
>The closest I have come is a cherry dye with Minwax Rosewood gel stain. It
>not quite dark enough, and looks too much like wood. Besides, dealing with
>the raised grain from the cherry dye is not an attractive thought.
>
>I have been surfing the stain manufacturer's pages and have come across
>Bartley Jet Mahogany. Unfortunately the only store I know that carries
>Bartley is on the other side of town, so I thought I would post here first
>to see if it is worth the trip.
>
>Has anyone tried this product? The look I am aiming for is pretty dark
>brown with just the vaguest hint of grain coming through. (I know, maybe an
>outdoor "semi-transparent!)
>
>Yeh, I know, why would anyone do something this horrible to nice cherry.
>Sorry but it was't my idea; the piece looks so good now.
>
"Toller" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> > I recently used Bartley Jet Mahogany on a cherry table I made for an
> > acquaintance. I tried to persuade against it, but he really wanted a
dark
> > color right now. Actually, I was pretty pleased with the results. I
put
> a
> > top coat on of several coats of Bartley Gel Varnish. I posted a pic in
> > a.b.p.w in case you want to see how it looks.
> >
> Would you believe it is not dark enough?!?!
> I will try a second coat this evening.
I was finally able to post the picture. And mine is with two coats of the
Jet Mahogany. It's really not that dark. It will get a little darker with
the second coat, but not much.
todd
> I recently used Bartley Jet Mahogany on a cherry table I made for an
> acquaintance. I tried to persuade against it, but he really wanted a dark
> color right now. Actually, I was pretty pleased with the results. I put
a
> top coat on of several coats of Bartley Gel Varnish. I posted a pic in
> a.b.p.w in case you want to see how it looks.
>
Would you believe it is not dark enough?!?!
I will try a second coat this evening.