Finish for Red Oak

Re: Finish for Red Oak

Joe Piotrowski - Chicago Burb's

>how natural do you want it?

you could just put a top coat on and be done. use a natural oak stain or golden oak.

I like to use a little color. I use General finishes water based golden oak and then use there arm r seal. generally two coats. I apply as thin of a coating as I can to get a base color to the wood. almost dry brush it on. let that sit for a while. it usually soaks right in. I now hit the trouble spots to get all even then i flood on a helping and let it sit about 10-15 min and wipe off. most of the time I can match the store bought "golden oak finishes" with this method.

IMO General makes the most user friendly stains. I have had nothing but good results with them. it should be known that most really good finishers can get the job done with just about any finish. I however am not one of those guys. This product works well for me. just my preferences.

good luck.

Re: Finish for Red Oak

Glenn Madsen near San Francisco

>Some of the early boxes I made were of Red Oak. One of the problems I had was with glue control and seepage, which wasn't always completely cleaned up. An oil finish, otherwise easy to use, was really wrong for those applications.

I like varnishes. McCloskey's, Waterlox and some of the others might suit you well. They are really easy to use, cure relatively quickly, and add their own ambering, to various degrees.

And shellac also works easily and well. Sealcoat is dewaxed, blond, and relatively cheap to use. Wipe it on, thinned 50% with denatured alcohol, with a well washed t shirt scrap. Do it again in 30 minutes when it's dry. Rinse. Repeat. When you like the way it looks, leave it for a day, then rub in a coat of wax with 0000 synthetic steel wool abrasive pad. Deliver and call it good.

Take a picture to share here, too.

Re: Finish for Red Oak

Johanna

>I am making a number of large furniture pieces from red oak and have also done some small ones. I rarely stain it. I usually use Sealcoat shellac first then top with either sprayed-on waterbased lacquer or brushed on poly. I have also used varnish over shellac. I sometimes fill the pores with a clear pore filler when I want a smooth surface.

On a small box I would use SealCoat followed by varnish.

Re: Finish for Red Oak

Rob Sandow

>Home Depot sells red oak off the shelf so many people use it in their early woodworking projects. It's not usually the chioce of advanced woodworkers, who usually prefer white oak for their oak projects. That said, I made a lot of cabinetry in my first house out of red oak, and it can be quite nice if finished properly. Red oak is very plain looking if left "natural". IMHO it needs a stain and clearcoat finish. A dye stain would be most consistent, although back then I mostly used pigment oil stains. Dye will de-emphasize the rings and give the entire project a more consistent appearance. But if you like the rings, then go ahead and apply some oil based pigment.

Oak is very open pored. You have 3 options here. If you don't care about the open pores, just put on a couple of coats of any poly and you are done. If you want it smooth, you can either apply a filler and then top it with your favorite clear coat, or you can apply many coats of oil poly which will fill the pores over time and won't cloud the surface like filler might.

Personally, I like to put an oil based pigment stain on red oak, and then top it with poly, filling it with multiple coats of poly on top surfaces.

Rob

Re: Finish for Red Oak

Gene Gauss

>I'm with Rob. My kitchen remodel is all red oak, stained with Minwax Golden Oak oil based stain (two applications, both rubbed off before the surface becomes gummy/dry), and several coats of oil based Polyurethane (ZAR glossy) each sanded with 220 grit. Gives a clear, durable finish that shows the grain (which is why one uses red oak, instead of something boring like poplar). Gene Gauss

Re: Finish for Red Oak

James Fox

>Stuart,

I recently finished making a red oak, tall chest for LOML (not sure whether it was a late present for Christmas 2005 or an early one for Christmas 2006--Yes, I do work slowly).

I sanded to 220, stained with Minwax Golden Oak (keep going back to wipe the excess--as it bleeds out of the pores for HOURS), topped it with 5 coats of Minwax Wipe-on Poly (Satin in my case) each coat except last rubbed down with 0000 steelwool.

I think it turned out well. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably see if I could find a stain that'd dry quicker so as not to keep bleeding out for so long.

Let us know how it turns out and post a pic.

James

Re: Finish for Red Oak

J D Thomas

>James,

I do a lot of work with red oak and learned a long time ago about bleed back. Someone back in the old CompuServe forums suggested I not flood the piece with stain. Since I like most of my oak pieces as close to natural as possible, not dark, I thought it would be good to try. So I dipped a rag into the stain and wrung it out with one hand, not two. That way there was still some stain left on the rag. Then I wiped that on. It's reduced the bleed back quite significantly.

Nowadays I am using Watch Danish oil frequently. Unfortunately, this technique doesn't work there.

HTH.

jel?

Joe Piotrowski - Chicago Burb's

>for a faster drying time try a water based stain. maybe a water based gel. I know there regular water based stain takes 2 to 4 hours to dry.

I have not used any water based top coats yet. I plan on doing some testing this spring. normally I take a rags and rub the finish on for several very thin coats. I go back to wipe it down before it gets too tacky. but the little bleed back I get can be sanded off between coats anyway.

Re: Finish for Red Oak

Lee Ohmart

>I used Minwax Chestnut stain topped with a BLO/Turp/Poly wipe on finish and have loved it. The stain was applied in 2 applications to get the color I wanted. I had the same issue with the pores bleeding but, since I used a wipe on finish, the first coat of finish took care of that problem. The finish was applied in 3 coats. The first coat was equal parts of each then the next two coats were 2 parts poly with 1 part each of BLO and Turp. For some applications, I like a little more red than the Minwax Chestnut has so I do one application of the chestnet followed by an application of Minwax Red Oak.

Re: jel?

Bill White

>Joe hit the nailhead when he mentioned "bleed back". Those open oak pores will ooze the stain for a while. DAMHIKT. Wipe it well after staining (if you stain), then let it sit for a day or two until you see if any stain comes back out of the pores.

Bill

Re: Finish for Red Oak

Stuart Hough

>Okay guys, I'm new here....just what does DAMHIKT mean?!?!?!?!?!

By the way, thanx for all the responses...I think I have figured it out. I'll go with a sealer, then wipe-on poly. I only have a few days before the m-i-l goes back home. The box is for her my Brother-in-law's (her son) ashes. If I have enough time I'll try to get a photo posted. For a first-time effort I think I did pretty good!

Thanx again

Don't Ask Me How I Know This

Don Henthorn

>

I making my own acroynm LLTHWT

Joe Piotrowski - Chicago Burb's

>Lesson Learned The Hard Way, Twice!

some of us just don't get after the first time :)