How to get this colour / finish

[ScottGoddard]

Guys,

I posted earlier about a walnut dye, and ill try that advice. However, I just wanted to check I am the correct path in the first place.....

I believe the picture is a walnut veneer, but I am struggling to get a finish on birch plywood to be close.

 

[Chrispy]

Looks more like teak veneer to me, but to stain Birch ply to match that will be a real challenge.

 

[ScottGoddard]

Looks more like teak veneer to me, but to stain Birch ply to match that will be a real challenge.

thanks, could you suggest something that would bring it close?

 

[woodpig]

Check out the wood stain samples in your local DIY store. As Chrispy says, teak would likely be a good match.

 

[ScottGoddard]

Yeah, on my way today. Should have wax/ varnish the dye?

 

[ED65]

The 'ground colour' so to speak is the one to aim for with what you buy, and that sort of sienna colour can have different names in different ranges. A stain sold as Pine, Honey Pine, Golden Oak, Yew or Teak might all get you close so some experimentation will be required.

Remember also that the colour of stained wood will subdue as the stain dries, but will go deeper or intensify when the topcoat goes on so your tests should involve the entire proposed finishing process. This means sanding to an equivalent level to begin with, the same stain application process and then the same number of coats of varnish or other topcoat at the end.

 

[Chrispy]

Birch ply has totally the wrong grain structure for teak so you will need something that will cover and hide rather than enhance whats underneath, something like deeply pigmented varnish or lacquer, even thinned down emulsion paint applied with a sponge to give a stripey grain effect, i.e. scumble. and as ED65 says!

 

[ScottGoddard]

thanks for all the help guys, i have done some tests. They are not final, need to sand and put either some oil or varnish on them as i would like them to pop a little more. They all had two coats, apart from the Liberon walnut.

Liberon - Walnut - Never realised it was so dark, is there anything wrong with it?

Colron - Georgian oak -

Ronseal (interior wax) - Walnut

 

[custard]

It's not that Walnut is dark, so much as it's usually a much cooler colour than most other timbers, which makes it look shadowy and darker. That's one reason it's considered such a special and individual wood. In the US an African timber called Ovangkol or Shedua is popular as a substitute for European Walnut, that's even cooler toned still.

Your photos illustrate this well, the Walnut stains are knocking out the red and yellow tones in the underlying timber. In fact Oak is quite cool toned too, not as cool as Walnut but moving in that direction. If you'd have shown comparisons against say Mahogany or American Cherry stains then the difference would have been even starker.

Furniture fashions come and go, and a cooler look is currently on trend, but the Victorians for example thought warmer was better, so they'd frequently re-finish older Walnut furniture with garnet shellac to add warming red tones.

 

[ScottGoddard]

Thanks, all - any idea how I could get a low-level shine to the finish?

 

[ED65]

Satin or semi-gloss varnish is a first thought.

Or you can use gloss varnish and knock the shine back a little by gently rubbing it down with a fine abrasive. This is the traditional way of getting a low lustre when using a high-gloss finish such as shellac, and it works just as well on varnish. These days fine steel wool or something like Scotch-Brite are most commonly used for the purpose.

You can also get a naturally low-level shine with products sold as Danish oil, but they vary from make to make and they may deepen the colour you achieve with the dye more than you'd like.

 

[ScottGoddard]

Thanks for all your help, here are some picture of the finish as it stands - thoughts / view on how close you think i have got this?