The reason for staining is to match the colour of the desktop to the rest of the desk. It's an old 1950's oak desk and even though the desk has been thoroughly sanded and finished with Osmo Polyx oil, it has a really attractive, aged, pale brown colour. I would like to try and re-create this colour on the top. If there are any other methods of achieving this colour, perhaps better options than staining, please let me know as I've never attempted anything like this before and don't really know the best way to proceed. The top will be oiled with Osmo Polx Oil Clear Satin.
One thing I did discover quite by chance whilst patching in some small sections of veneer on the desk sides to replace some damaged areas was a good colour match was achieved by sanding the veneer to 180 grit, I then rubbed some black shoe polish all over the veneer patches, wiped off the excess, gave it a quick rub over with 180 grit again and then applied two coats of Rustin's Brown Mahogany Wood Dye, then the Osmo on top of that. This seemed to work quite well. My thinking was that the open grain would be filled with black, replicating many years of dirt and grime. It also had the added bonus of just slightly darkening the oak a little to give a slightly darker brown colour. I've no idea if using shoe polish is a bad idea or if it will cause problems with finishing, but it seemed to be ok. Of course, doing it on small veneer patches a couple of centimeters in size is one thing, but I'm not sure I've got the confidence to risk it on a whole desktop.
I will certainly do plenty of testing first but I only have the one 8 x 4 ft sheet of oak veneered MDF and most of what remains after the desktop has been deducted is earmarked for something else I'm planning to make. So I've only a few offcuts with which to try out finishes. So I'm hopeful, with any advice given here, that I may have a good starting point on how to proceed and achieve the colour I'm after.
Can anyone else offer any good methods for achieving an aged pale brown oak colour?
