Need help blending light and dark poplar and maple

Try this trick Tom:

Figure out what color you want the final project to be. Get some wood stain of that color made for you, or off the shelf. I like Sherwin Williams stain, and they can mix it to whatever I want.

Then, I add up to 6 ounces of the stain color to my gallon of clear finish. I like lacquer, but it would probably work on something else like poly if you like that stuff.

Stir in the stain, and apply the finish as usual. The more coats you apply, the more wood color will start to look like your planned stained color.

I have done this process to make the color consistent where wood grains are not. It is sort of like painting the wood, only with a paint that isn’t very opaque. The more coats you spray on, the more it builds and covers the grain and natural coloring of the wood. This process lets the wood grain show through, and also makes the project look like wood finish, not a painted project. I do this method with a spray gun. I don’t know if it would work with a brush, or a rag, but I sort of doubt it.

I was able to use this process successfully on a birch project this fall. Here is a link to the blog where I described the process of yellowing the finish to match the house’s existing finish using this technique:

http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/decoustudio/blog/2163

I was able to use the yellowed lacquer to blend out the various colors of the birch, to a consistent finish.

Hope this gives you some ideas,
Mark

-- Mark DeCou - American Contemporary Craft Artisan - www.decoustudio.com

Mark is right – this does work with poly, but keep it down to a few ounces per gallon. I spray almost everything, so I can’t say whether it will work with a brush, but I don’t know why not.

Wood dye might work, too, but I wouldn’t recommend that a beginning woodworker mess with dies (dies? dyes? dice? awww, how do you pluralize that word??).

-- http://www.north40custom.com -- http://north40studios.etsy.com --

As the others just mentioned, stain mixed in with the poly will cover most any inherent wood color. You can buy small premixed cans of it at the big box stores.

I don’t think it will look as good for other projects as doing separate coats, but in this case it will, as poplar does not stain so pretty.

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

Thanks for your replies! In my experimenting, I’ve tried some PolyShade I had hanging around which I believe is pretty much what you are talking about. It did a pretty good job of blending the lighter colored poplar and the maple but nothing that I’ve put on the darker green pieces has had much impact on its general shade. It still looks green, but maybe a shade darker. I don’t care if it is a little green, but it is REALLY green. I was thinking about trying to bleach the darkest areas but it seems like a fairly advanced topic and most of the advice I’ve seen on the subject discourages its use.

The largest single piece that is dark green is actually a drawer front so I think I’ll simply remake that since it should take all of 5 minutes. But there are other places where the dark woods is one part of a fairly complicated (for me) piece.

Thanks again for your help!!!

-- Tom, Southwest Florida

Dyes would be correct.

It’s my understaning the the green will fade to brown with time. I know of no poplar that ever keeps its color. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have the poplar stay green and purple. But it never does.

It won’t lighten any, but, the colors will fade to various shades of brown.

Using a UV inhibiting finish would, of course, slow the process.

-- arborial reconfiguration specialist

Would intentionally exposing the wood to UV light speed the process? I could put them out in the sun for a couple of days, or I also have some UV bulbs for curing liquid polymer resin stamps.

-- Tom, Southwest Florida

In the summer, a couple hours is all it takes to turn the green to brown. in the Winter, a little longer.

-- Thuan

Lets see it.

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

Well, it is currently disassembled for finishing. I did have it all put together when I let my wife take a look at it. Here is a shot of all the pieces:

Here are a couple of shots that highlight the issues. The first one shows the top of the leg assembly. The two smaller end caps are made from maple scraps I had lying around. The side closest to the camera is a greenish (but too dark) piece of poplar while the side behind it really doesn’t have any green in it at all. The second shot shows a side of the tray assembly where you can see that the height extension piece is much darker than the main side piece and the drawer support back has some pretty dark areas as well. Topping it off, I didn’t really pay much attention to the color of the bungs I was putting in. Hey, I was going to paint this thing.

I’m still doing a little experimenting. I’m sort of leaning to just putting a clear finish on it and let it be, warts and all.

-- Tom, Southwest Florida

Toads have warts.
Frogs turn into princes.

As this is for your princess I’d get rid of the warts otherwise Daddy is not gong to be happy.

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

Excellent construction here. You had a great idea to use poplar for a painted finish as it definately don’t stain well at all. I’d stick to that original plan and try and explain to the wife why you chose poplar. You can also incorporate a stained wood (edgeing) to a painted box. The contrast really looks good.

Your daughter is waiting to use this Dad. Gotta get it done.

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

ok tom i dont know if anyone has added this im a bit to lazy today to read all the poasts but heres what i do to combat the mean greenie as i like to call it i do a 4 part finish first i pick a color stain i buy it in both normal staine and in a gel youll need shallac and poly first off use the normal stain leting it sit a touch longer on popler the let it dry and put on two coats of shallac let it dry then use the gel stain to even out the color let it dry then poly the heck out of it it takes a while but i love the way finishes turn out when dun this way i hope this helps

-- I buy tools so i can make more money,so ican buy more tools so I can work more, to make more money, so I can buy more tool, so I can work more

Well, last night I experimented a little more. I took a scrap piece of poplar that was greenish (not the darkest or lightest I have) and left it overnight on top of some UV bulbs with half the surface covered by duct tape. Here is a photo of what I got (I had to play with the tint and exposure to get it to match the actual piece closely):

It certainly turn much more brown and maybe a little darker too? If I could get it that shade but lighten it up a bit I might be in business.

-- Tom, Southwest Florida

doyoulikegumwood: That sounds really interesting! I haven’t used either shellac or gel stain so it should be fun to give it a try. Thanks!

-- Tom, Southwest Florida

Use a method that has been around since the dark ages (well, a long time anyway). Seal the wood with a good quality sealer, sand with 300 grit when dry then apply the stain. If the light areas still don’t quite match the dark, apply another coat of sealer, sand and restain the light areas. Then proceed to final finish. I always seal woods like maple and pine before staining to prevent blotchy areas. If you have the means, I have had great success mixing the final finish product with equal parts of the stain and spraying the light areas with a automotive touch up spray gun. When satisfied, apply a couply more coats of clear and your on your way.

-- Jim, Alberta Canada

Thanks for everyones help. In the end, I didn’t end up tinting or dying the woods at all. I just couldn’t get it to look very good. Time and experience will fix that, I suppose. I did put the whole thing out in the sun for a couple of days which made most of the green tones brown out a bit. Also, I bleached down the darkest areas a little. That is a bit of a story on its own.

I did a little internet research on wood bleach and it seemed the correct bleach to use for altering the tone of the wood itself is two part peroxide bleach. The articles said that many hardware stores and most paint stores would carry it. Hah! What a waste of time and gas that turned out to be. I tried oxalic bleach but, as I suspected, it didn’t do too much. Out of desperation, I tried the only other two part, peroxide bleach I knew of. Hair bleach. It actually did take it down a couple of notches.

Anyway you can check out my project entry on it if you are interested: Folding Easel for my daughter

-- Tom, Southwest Florida

Can’t wait to see it finished, I’ve had this problem myself. I end up creating some faux finish or painted grain…
This is an easle for your daughter… Is she’s an Artist maybe it’s time to bring her in on the project and two of you create a new concoction of some new finish. With two coats of jaco bean you can create a pretty cool tiger or flame pattern, by: 1st putting one coat and while wet place your hand will latex glove in a tray of the same color stain. Tap and fan your 4 fingers along the wood…. about every half inch up n down taps moving your fingers the way you want to fan out the flames or stripes.. I did this on a book case, it can turn out really pretty cool with some experimenting.. Patrick

-- PJM.`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ ><((((º> ""BY HAMMER AND HAND ALL ARTS DO STAND""1785-1974 nyc Semper Fi, Patrick M

This may even let the two tones really work for each other, I don’t usually like to hide any maple. But you can create wonders with stain experimenting… May not be what you want to do for this project but thought I’d throw it out there, cause it reminded me of when I went that route and came out pleased.. Look up some faux finish teqniques on line if interested I have a book of faux finishes and antique murals on wood that may give you some other ideas ? I can scan in some pages if you’d like? If not I Hope and am Sure it will turn out beautiful. You put some care into this… Hand made presents are ‘always’ the best.

-- PJM.`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ ><((((º> ""BY HAMMER AND HAND ALL ARTS DO STAND""1785-1974 nyc Semper Fi, Patrick M

Hi Tom,

I first worked with poplar when we finished the basement. All the trim and doors were done in poplar and I naively put an oil based stain on them despite suggestions that poplar is best painted (I feel that painting wood is a sacrilege). Like you I had some green areas, but just let it go as I was so frustrated with the project since it didn’t turn out like I envisioned. But to my surprise the green areas gradually turned to a nice deep brown and all the wood is now the same color. I am not sure how long this took since I hadn’t really noticed the change until one day it dawned on me that the green was gone.

If you have the time to wait it should be just fine.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Here she is using it for the first time last night:

-- Tom, Southwest Florida

Oh man, That’s GREAT! I’m a painter myself.. This is such a great gift. Really, BRAVO ! Nice Job..
Wish you both many HAPPY YEARS of Great Art and Joy! She’ll Be famous one day thanks to this. Just look at her presentation pose , saying see what I’ve created…

-- PJM.`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ ><((((º> ""BY HAMMER AND HAND ALL ARTS DO STAND""1785-1974 nyc Semper Fi, Patrick M