# White oak -> Honey colour



## CWatters (6 Apr 2009)

I have a piece of wood which I'm pretty sure is American White Oak. I would like to turn it the classic golden honey colour but looking for suggestions on how best to do that.

Has anyone out there used Coloured Osmo Polyx on American White Oak? How did it turn out? 

I have some European oak flooring that is exactly the right colour/finish I'm after. This was finished with Osmo Polyx hardwax oil but I don't know if the colour is down to the original wood or use of coloured Osmo. 

I've tried three different colours of wood dye on offcuts but very unhappy with the results. They turn the grain dark grey/black but leave the rest too light. I'm after a more uniform honey colour with less grain enhancement.


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## Chems (8 Apr 2009)

Thats the trouble with Wood Dye, it penetrates to different levels depending on the width of the growth rings.

Have you tried just a wax you rub in?


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## CWatters (8 Apr 2009)

It does seem to be a viscosity issue - the very thin dye soaks into and concentrates in the darker rings but not the rest of the wood. 

I've not yet tried a wax yet but now I think about it the higher viscosity might keep it on the surface and so be more uniform. Was scared off by the price - £11 a pot from Homebase - and I wanted to get a second opinion first.


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## wizer (8 Apr 2009)

have you tried Danish Oil?


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## Setch (8 Apr 2009)

What color is it now?

Some oak has a nasty grey tint to it, which makes getting that 'golden' colour very difficult. Bleaching first can help, but some pieces are just the wrong colour to start with, and that makes life difficult.


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## Sgian Dubh (8 Apr 2009)

CWatters":3bsf80ea said:


> I have a piece of wood which I'm pretty sure is American White Oak. I would like to turn it the classic golden honey colour but looking for suggestions on how best to do that.



Prepare the wood by planing, scraping and sanding to 180 grit. Apply a coat of thin dewaxed shellac. Let it dry. Sand the surface back hard to remove the shellac from the denser late growth. Apply the dye.

The shellac partially fills and seals the more porous spring or early growth wood thus reducing the effectiveness of the dye uptake. That will do it, but you will have to experiment a bit to get the right balance between the shellac blocking the dye and allowing it to colour the grain.

After that any film forming finish can be applied over dewaxed shellac. But if your preferred follow up finish is an oil finish, eg, linseed oil, the shellac will prevent proper penetration of the oil into the wood. You will have to experiment with that too to see if the result is what you want. Slainte.


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## CWatters (8 Apr 2009)

Wizer - yes tried Danish oil 

Setch - it's very pale almost white like some Ash or pine.

Quick goodle found a baseball bat a similar colour.. 
http://www.bigleaguestore.com/images/wo ... t_A581.jpg
This is more what I'd like it to look like..
http://www.wholesaleflooringdirect.com/ ... ey_oak.jpg

Sgian Dubh - sounds complicated.

I think I'll try some wax on another offcut and see what that looks like first.


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## Sgian Dubh (9 Apr 2009)

CWatters":1skyikz8 said:


> Sgian Dubh - sounds complicated.



There's an old saying that goes 'if you can p*ss, you can paint', thus dismissing the skill that good house painters possess.

Some people think, and I'm not saying you might be one of them, that wood finishing falls into the same category of an easy task at the end of a making job. Good wood finishing requires skill, experience and knowledge, just like every other trade or profession. The procedure I suggested to you is not difficult, it's a standard methodology as far as I'm aware having used it for over thirty years now and, perhaps after you've experimented with other less successful methods for a while, you might give it a try. Slainte.


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## CWatters (12 Apr 2009)

Being a lazy sod with too much to do I gave the wax a go. First stop was to find a place where I could open up a few pots to find the best colour without the shop staff complaining. Eventually settled on Ronseal Mellow Pine brushing wax. I put the first coat on today and it so far it's looking super. Much better resulta than the dye. I plan to give it another coat tomorrow. Thanks folks.


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