Finishing Pine

[jteneyck]

John,

That looks way cool! I will go out and buy a can of shellac and start playing around. I like using GF as my top coat. It goes on easy, dries somewhat fast and has a hard finish. Are you saying I could also mix my Trans Tint dye to my GF top coat? I guess that would be like the Min Wax stuff. 

Thanks

Mike

Yes, you can add Transtint to shellac or any WB finish.  In the second photo the bottom of the test board is Sealcoat by itself on the birdseye maple, the middle is Sealcoat + Transtint dye, and the top is either another coat of what I did in the middle or a different Transtint dye in Sealcoat.  The very top left, where it's much darker, is where I applied a coat of HP Poly + another Transtint dye.  

This is a common process when trying to match a finish.  You either dye the piece to the underlying color of the original, or apply a shellac + dye toner coat to do the same, then apply stain or dye in your first finish coat to get the overall color right.  When you look at most pieces of furniture/cabinets, they are not one color.  They have an underlying color that's lighter than the overall look.  That's the color you want to get with the first step of dying or shellac toner (shellac + dye).  Then you build on that base with stain, glaze, or a finish toner.  Often it can three or four steps to get the color and depth right but for this project I was able to get there with just two steps.  

John

[Eurekan]

I'm doing a job now making some pine cabinets. In the past I've used conditioner with great results (my choice is BIX). What I've been using nowadays is an alcohol dye. It does not raise the grain. It stains yellow glue mistakes. You can use multiple coats for extra color. I use good old hardware store alcohol and powered dyes.