Black Stain Recommendation, Please

If she likes that picture, you’re looking at dye or paint.

Of your two wood suggestions, pine blotches (especially noticeable the darker the color) and oak is two toned (the hard stuff doesn’t like to darken much).

For an even look, with dye, there are better wood choices. Buy some dye, make some samples, show ‘em to her. It’s worth the time.

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"

I’ve seen Oak dyed pitch black. It was gorgeous. I’m not sure how the Pine would look. You should do some samples for BOTH of you to look at before deciding. I’d be interested to know how much you quote, given the price in the link above. I don’t think I could build that in Pine for that price.

As for coloring, I’d start with General’s Java Gel Stain. Only because I successfully used it once.

-- Backer boards, stop blocks, build oversized, and never buy a hand plane--

Make it out of maple plywood and paint it black.

-- Bondo Gaposis

You could try to ebonizing the wood. Its an old school technique that works well.
try this link
http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/ebonizing_wood

Use India ink to dye the wood black. It works great.

-- Chief Petty Officer USN(RET) 1991-2011

I mix water based black aniline dye and India ink, then I add some black tint to my oil based top coat, to even out the color.

-- Tim-- http://www.tmuli.com

@ Lee – that is not the picture of what she wants, but overall, that is what she wants…36W inches x 14D x 16H with three cubbies. Her picture shows a padded cushion which she would have to make.

@Others – I would rather use plywood so I don’t have to glue up the white pine to get a finished depth of 14 inches. The project can be built out of a 1/2 sheet of plywood. Just so happens I have a half sheet of Red Oak but I could get some Maple if need be.

Dye, tint…UGH! although we are talking black color, I am partially color blind. Gray is one of my favorite colors! :-) And believe me when I say it is really tough on my photography.

I guess I should take a ride to Woodcraft and see what those guys have to say. They carry the General Finishes stuff.

Note: I got the request via my wife’s text with a picture. So I need to talk to her in person. She is a good friend of my daughter and a first year teacher also. I really don’t mind helping her out if we can figure out what the final product should look like.

Thanks for your advice.
Mike

Minwax’s Ebony is fairly black, and it will allow a little of the grain to show through, and is easy to apply.
Other than that, Behlen Solar Lux Stain Dye would be the product I would choose.

-- Paul, Tennessee, http://www.tsunamiguitars.com

I really like genuine India Ink on open grained woods. I’ve used it on ash and oak, for things like statue altars, with beautiful results. It’s got to end up blaaaaaaaaaaaaack to look best, not almost black with tints of other colors.

To me, lots of the made for woodworking products fade a bit to a purple tint. Some even start that color.

Here’s an example from Dick Blick.

I normally apply it with a foam brush. Pre-raise the grain with water, sand to 220, apply the ink, spray with your favorite clear coat.

-- It's all good, if it's wood...

Doesn’t Transtint make a black? I’m honestly not sure.

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

I haven’t tried it, but hope to some day. This review of black shellac looks really cool, although it is not always available from the website that supplies it.

I used minwax polyshades black to do a dresser and it worked out great. It was oak. I know its in bad form to use poly and stain in one, but for this project it worked out well. I used one coat on the drawers as we wanted the grain and some of the brown wood to show. But two coats on the top blackened it well. I finished with watco wipe on poly and my wife loves it.

-- Wood is good.

My preferred method is to mix some of the Mixwax Ebony with some poly and spray it on. It’s certainly black, and with it you can control the amount of transparency with the number of coats. I did an aquarium stand using this method…among other things.

-- jay, www.allaboutastro.com

The blackest black I’ve ever used is Ronan Black Japan Color. It’s a paste that can be thinned to get any density desired. It dries pretty fast and can be topped with any clear coat.
http://www.ronanpaints.com/japan.htm

-- Clint Searl.............We deserve what we tolerate

Use aniline black dye. One you realize how easy it is (mix, spray on) you’ll be thanking yourself.

-- -- Rick M.