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Identify a wood finish – American Chestnut

ubipa | Posted in General Discussion on November 23, 2015 02:54am

 I’m redoing some trim in a 1920’s house and need advice. I believe the trim is American Chestnut and I’m trying to match the trim in connecting areas.

 Luckily I was able to source some similar wood on Craigslist to mess around with. I’ve gone through a lot of trial and error. My sample pieces are getting thinner and thinner 🙂

 I really want to go with shellac, but I’m just not getting the result I want. So I really need some advice or direction. I’ve been dying the base then using an oil penetrating stain with a toned shellac top coat. The finish is just too transparent with grain detail. The original pieces almost look like it was done with a glaze or muddy varnish.

 Attached are some pictures. Does anyone have any advice on getting a closer match to this finish?

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Replies

  1. ubipa | Nov 23, 2015 02:56pm | #1

    No Cigar

    Here's my attempt so far..

    1. calvin | Nov 23, 2015 03:50pm | #2

      ub

      I'm confused a bit on what's old and what's new.

      first off, was chestnut common in your area at that time.  Here, what you show resembles fir.  The finish was often either shellac or later, varnish.  Both darken with age and various cleaning films applied.

      have you tried a gel stain yet?  Those dampen grain quite easily.

      just a dumb carpenter who usually relies on a good painter or in a perfect world, a good paint store without a computer match.

      1. ubipa | Nov 24, 2015 09:01am | #3

        Old and New

         Hi Calvin - Thanks for replying. All of the pictures in the first post are of the original trim and finish. The second post has a picture of a few of my attempts at matching the finish.

         

        Left - Original

        Center - Md Bn/Dk Mission Etoh Dye, Golden Mahogany Oil Stain, Shellac sealer, H20 based Poly Matte

        Right - English Chestnut Oil Stain, Toned Amber Shellac w MdBn/Orange dye

         

        Chestnut was common in the area that I live (North East). There's a lot of very old houses and it was used before it went wormy. I haven't really worked with Chestnut before so this is new to me. Fir does have a similar grain pattern but I don't think it's as intense as American Chestnut and the end grain seems to be very different. I might be wrong but from I can tell so far, this is chestnut.

         

        I wasn't able to disolve the original finish with ethanol, so it's probably old varnish that has yellowed a bit. There's more to the finish than varnish tho. I'm just trying to figure it out. I have been using dyes in shellac which should be similar to a gel stain.

         

        I'm playing around with the idea of using pigments suspended in varnish or shellac. This should get the color above the grain and more solid. Then glaze over to darken the deeper grain.

         

         

         

        1. calvin | Nov 24, 2015 10:02am | #4

          ub

          i think you're close with the middle one, I'd experiment with that .  The sheen may be confusing you.

          Too orange on the right.

          of course you are there and it's on this screen.  Remember too, mating up to the original,  might see a difference.  Different plane or direction, not so much.  Across the room?  No way.

        2. mark122 | Nov 24, 2015 04:50pm | #5

          yeah i would mess with your middle mixture a little more and try and get some of that stain to darken a bit more. you wont get a perfect match with the original because it has the patina only time will give.

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