Refinishing quarter-sawn white oak
NicholsConstruction
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
Hey everyone. I am going to be refinishing a floor next month that is quarter-sawn white oak, (2″ by 2″ tiles), and I am wondering if anyone has advice to offer on how to make the medullary rays stand out as much as possible. I am leaning towards a technique featured in a FHB article by Tim Leahy a few years back which is essentially, light stain, followed by thin coat of shellac sanding sealer, followed by a dark glaze, and then polyurethane. I welcome any and all comments regarding this process, or any other technique which will highlight the figure.
Thanks,
Len
Replies
Never heard of this method........
Do you have anymore information or pictures of the finished product that you are trying to acheive?
I don't at the moment Calvin, but I am going to be meeting with this particular customer in the next day or two and can take a photo of some of the same flooring elsewhere in the house that was refinished a number of years ago. . .. Of course that doesn't mean I'll be able to figure out how to post them.
Len
Thanks. Worst case.........
Send them to me and I'll try. Sized for email should be just about right-Use the Auto Size if you can in the email.
Private Message me through my profile.
Based on the technique you referenced and the fact that you want to bring out the ray flecking, it sounds like your going for a Stickley kind of finish.
Jeff Jewitt (editor on FWW) has a technique that I've used on a couple pieces of craftsman furniture I've built with fantastic results. The technique sounds very similar but the first coat is a water based dye i.e. Trans Tint.
Two things that make this great are the fact that you can flood on the dye with a sponge (if your doing a floor you obviously will not want excessive water) and acheive very even color. The dye really penetrates the wood much better than stain and really "pops" the flecking. It also brings a uniform tone to the wood. You can play around with the ratio of dye to water easily and mix different color tints too to get the perfect color. If your worried about water on the floor you can always use alcohol with the dye too.
Here is a link to Jeff's website. You can buy the tints there or I know Woodcraft and Rockler carry them.
http://www.homesteadfinishingproducts.com/htdocs/TransTint.htm
The process
http://www.homesteadfinishingproducts.com/pdf/mission_oak_rev1-2011.pdf
Calvin . . . here are a few shots of what I am shooting for on the floor refinish. They were taken with a less than ideal camera in less than ideal light but they give a pretty good idea of the level of color contrast I am after. GCG . . . your suggestion that I was describing a Stickley style finish resonated for me. Although this floor is in a mid 1880s Victorian, it does have that kind of look to me. Thanks for your suggestion regarding the use of dye instead of stain for the first coat. I will look into it.
Len
The article you're following is sound basic advice - you'll have to try various combinations to get both the amount of grain contrast and overall color correct.
The inital stain (a wiping stain) has larger particles that get into any pores of the wood and is what will highlight the grain and oak rays - the other coat of stain (glaze) is to bring all the woodl to the color you want and to tone down the contrast between light and dark areas.
The darker the glaze coat the less obvious the grain and rays will be. The same effect is achieved with a wood dye prior to the stain although I've never seen anyone actually use dye on a floor - dye makes the grain, rays and lighter wood more or less all the same color and the wiping stain that goes over it then highlights the grain and rays.
Sealing between the coats with shelac isn't a bad idea since you don't want them to interact - depending on the products you don't always have to seal between the differeing layers, but it doesn't hurt anything.
I appreciate your comments everyone. This is my 2nd attempt at posting a photo of the floor in question to this forum. Not sure what happened the first time. Calvin . . . I also just sent, (or tried) you a photo through your profile page. GCG ... thanks for the link to Jeff Jewit's website. That was helpful. Your suggestion that what I was describing was a Stickley style of finish resonated for me, cause even though the floor is in a mid 1800s victorian, it very much has that kind of look to me. This photo is what I am shooting for. The floor I will be refinishing, (in an adjacent room) has a heavy yellowish finish on it that all but hides the rays.
View Image
OK. . . so I have tried twice to post a photo of the floor in question here, and on both occasions I've received a message saying that my comment has been queued for moderation by site administrators and will be published after approval. ???#@#@#
Is this typical? Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks for weighing in on this. I appreciate everyones comments.
Len
Am I doing something wrong?
You're attempting to post ... on Breaktime. It doesn't get much wronger than that.
It's so critical to protect us from something (I haven't figured out what that is yet) that we're not allowed to post many things without having our hands held. It's amazing to me since there is such a small volume of posting here that someone can't just watch the posts and delete stuff that's inapropriate. Paranoid.
I don't think it does much good posting pictures since what you're doing is relatively straightforward. What you need to do is get some quartersawn white oak and make stain samples. Whatever you do don't take a recipe someone gives you and use it on the floor without a stain sample you've made yourself with the products you're using.
Having said that, about 1/3 of the guys I've talked with about this kind of thing (clients and contractors) go ahead without stain samples and they are shocked at how things didn't work out like they thought. It. must be human nature to not see the importance of stain samples on actual wood!
Many mission oak finishes go a long way to minimize the contrast between rays, grain and the lighter parts of the wood - it's a balancing act.
It's important when testing the samples, though, to consider that old, refinished oak will behave differently from "virgin" oak. The OP, if possible, should get his hands on some scraps that have already been finished, and strip them down as he plans, rather than using new wood, at least once he's narrowed things down a little.
My .02
I did a house several years ago that was QSWO everything. My prep was sand to 180, tack cloth and apply a soping wet rag of pigment stain to flood the surface. Wipe off, let dry and apply pre cat laquer or if it is the floor polyurethane. The fleck or rays are more dense than the other parts of the wood and will not absorb the pigment stain like the surrounding areas and will "pop" better. If you use a dye it will probably dull the fleck, IMHO. Less is more.