To Color or Not to Color?!

I am one of 'those' people who admire the grain on a piece of wood.  Now more than ever I am aware of the wood grains than any other time in my life.  Of course I am working with wood, so that is natural I suppose.  It goes more deeply than this though.  I like the natural wood grains so much than it is almost painful to add color to it through staining, let alone painting (the ultimate sin to destroy the natural beauty of wood). 

Be that as it may some pieces shout out color me.  At first I use some old oil stains I had.  I love the way the oil stains sat close to the surface, tinted the wood slowly (multiple coats changed the depth of the color, left the grain of the wood visible and sealed the wood.  Then came the project that needed more colors that the small natural tone pallet I had available.  I asked some fellow woodcrafters and several had 'secret staining techniques' and I just had to figure out how to make my own.

I tried water based stains.  They soaked deeply into the wood, tended to bleed into surrounding areas, keeping a consistent tone of one color could be difficult, and the grains of the wood just not the same.  These were okay for some projects, but not most of my work.

I started to experiment.  Tubes of oil and water color paints were mixed with various wood products: polyurethane, clear stains, mineral oils, waxes and such.  Finally I came up with a technique to add color and accent the wood grains instead of dull or hide them.  What is that technique, you may ask?  Sorry it is my secret.  Everyone has to have at least one of them.

But I  encourage you to experiment and find what works well for you.  If you come up with something good, let me know - maybe we can swap secrets formulas. 

- Take Care -