# how to mix mixol tints



## shelly_b (Aug 8, 2012)

Hi, I am making a cabinet/armoire for a coworker. He gave me a pic from a magazine of what he wanted it to look like. This has a very light teal colored paint, but we decided to tint/stain it that color instead so the grain will show through. I bought some mixol tints. Does anyone have any experience on mixing these? I tried putting it straight in the poly, but didn't mix well. It mixed it water, but when used on maple it got really blotchy. I have wood conditioner, but it's only for use with oil based stains. I am going to try on poplar and hope for better luck without blotching. Have I mentioned I hate finishing? I really hope it gets easier for me! I wish I could just clear coat or oil everything. Thanks!


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

"...Have I mentioned I hate finishing?..."

You and me both Shelly! I can't help you on this one, BUT I am looking to do the same thing on my next project, a couple of skinny Amish Cabinets. I look forward to seeing how this thread turns out. Good luck…


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## NiteWalker (May 7, 2011)

I mixed mixol in water based poly (crystalac). It came out fine, but the colors are lighter than mixing paints.


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## mojapitt (Dec 31, 2011)

I have not used those dyes so I can't help you there. If you find anyone that says finishing is their favorite part, they're lying. Good luck.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

I think you forgot about Charles Neil Monte ) Shelly,Monte and others for $12 a month Charles Neil has a on line class on finishing plus a forum where you can ask questions and he will answer any questions you have in a very timely manner. As with most of Charles products and on line classes has a money back no questions asked policy I assume it's the same with this class. That's less than a gallon of many finishes you might buy. I'm a member and I have learned a lot already.


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## shelly_b (Aug 8, 2012)

Thanks guys It mixed well it water, but I am worried that if the poplar doesn't work because of the green in it, that I will have to use maple, which will splotch really bad with a water based dye…unless there is a way to condition it first. The poly I mixed it with had an amber tint, so it kind of messed up the color, and it didn't mix well anyway. I think it may dissolve a little better if I let it sit for a while, but that doesn't fix the amber tint. Thanks again!


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## shelly_b (Aug 8, 2012)

Thanks Jim! I will definately look into that! I would really like to learn as much as I can about finishing so I can enjoy it I would also like to use this project as an excuse to buy an airless finishing system since it is such a big cabinet, so I will need some training on that also lol.


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## shelly_b (Aug 8, 2012)

Of all the wood I have, I don't have any poplar or maple, so I am going to lowes to grab a little poplar board to do some samples on. I will post pics of how it turns out.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Shelly poplar and maple an other woods tend to blotch because they have a combination of hard and soft wood so the the wood tends to absorb the stain or finish diffidently.What needs to be done is those woods need a pre-conditioner before staining or dying. There are a number of things you can use such as a 1 Lb cut of shellac ,a store bought pre-conditioner but I've found the Blotch control that Charles Neil makes works best.

Here's a link for Charles Neil's finishing class

http://www.cn-woodworking.com/finishing-class/


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## Finisherman (May 3, 2013)

Hi Shelly:

I'm a little bit of a "strange animal." I love finishing! A1Jim is right. Maple and poplar do tend to blotch. Charles Neil's blotch control works well on these woods. If you're thinking of getting a spray system, I'd go with a turbine-driven HVLP system. In that case, you can spray light, dry coats of the dye, mixed with water or denatured alcohol, onto your surface. This should help to minimize your blotching problems. I second the idea that attending Charles Neil's might help you with your finishing. If you want to, you can send me a PM and I'll be happy to help you in whatever way I can. Of course, you can also PM Charles Neil, and I'm sure that he'd be happy to help you, too.


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## fge (Sep 8, 2008)

We are forced to do finish work fairly regularly, like it or not. A recent customer insisted on a stained finish and insisted on Maple. I actually use mixol products a good bit, but I can say that Transtint Dye will mix better than mixol products. I primarily use black (Transtint, to darken), brown (#3) and red colors. I tend to mix most of my colors in my sanding sealer and sometimes will mix into my top coat lacquers.

As stated already, these colors can be mixed in a mixture of water and denatured alcohol and that might be what will work nicely for you.

I used to use Poly but do not use poly anymore, we just use lacquers. Let us know how it goes.


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## fge (Sep 8, 2008)

A good source for dye products: http://www.homesteadfinishingproducts.com/htdocs/stains.htm


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## OggieOglethorpe (Aug 15, 2012)

On blotchy woods, often the nicest color changes are obtained by tinting a clear coat, and spraying layers of the tinted clear until the desired color depth is achieved.

Think "Candy paint" on a custom car… It's a tinted clear sprayed over a silver, gold, or copper metallic base coat.


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## JAAune (Jan 22, 2012)

I use Mixol pigments but not for tinting stains or finishes. Transtint or some other dye solutions tend to do a better job in this realm. Pigments tend to obscure the grain whereas dyes do not.

The Mixols I do like for doing little touch-up and repair work. I tend to put a few different colors onto a palette and blend them to the right color. At that point I'll add a few drops of shellac to the mixture and paint thin coats of semi-translucent color over defects. It's a good way to rescue a finish after discovering a glue spot under the first coat of lacquer.

My business partner once "repaired" a veneered surface that had been nearly sanded through over a 6" wide area. There was just enough veneer present that the addition of some lines of pigment was enough to make it look normal. Only those of us in the know could spot the damaged area.


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## shelly_b (Aug 8, 2012)

Thanks everyone! I am definately going to take Charles Neil's class. So far I have applied a water mixture, and a minwax stain tint base with mixol on poplar. Like Jim said, there were areas that looked good, and some that blotched. I treated with minwax wood conditioner for water based stains(which I didn't know they made) and that helped, but there was still an absorbtion difference. I am going to try to mix the color in shellac since I also picked some up that is clear. I think the easiest thing to do would be a tinted top coat, as long as I can get it to mix right. Time to go back out and see if there were any changes now that it's dry! Thanks


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## kdc68 (Mar 2, 2012)

Shelly poplar and maple an other woods tend to blotch because they have a combination of hard and soft wood so the the wood tends to absorb the stain or finish diffidently.What needs to be done is those woods need a pre-conditioner before staining or dying. There are a number of things you can use such as a 1 Lb cut of shellac ,a store bought pre-conditioner but I've found the Blotch control that Charles Neil makes works best.

+1 a1Jim….Shellac works with any finish….you may be able to tint the shellac with the mixol…but not sure…I've only tinted shellac with TransTint


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## skipj (Mar 6, 2012)

I have never used mixol tint,but on my last kitchen i did i used trans tint dye. I also use target coatings.
The cabinets were maple. The finish went like this. sand to 320 then mix targets sanding sealer with 50%
water and spray. Sand again with 400 grit. Then i mix trans tint to targets em6000 water borne lacqure to
about the color i want but kept it on the light side. then sand to 400 agan and spray a second coat to darken
it little more.No more sanding. The last coat straight em6000. This was a big kitchen and had no blotch.
And yes i hate fininshing in fact the kitchen i am doing now is poplar, it gets paint, was just sent out for finish.


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## shelly_b (Aug 8, 2012)

I think my big issue, is I can't find any finishes that are clear to add the tint to and I am trying to create a teal color. They all have a brown or amber tint, which doesn't to "teal" any favors. I ordered some of the hometead powder dyes. The reason I didn't order them to begin with was b/c they didn't have any pics of the color online…so hopefully that will work better! I really don't want to start the project before I know which wood will look best with teal stain. Thanks everyone!!


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## Mosquito (Feb 15, 2012)

I too use TransTint in my shellac sanding sealer (dewaxed). I don't do it often, and have only used "vintage maple" to pop the grain on curly maple. I have used it once now on oak too, but I can't show those results until the end of the month


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## Finisherman (May 3, 2013)

Fear not. You have sevveral otptions. Clear, or better yet, "superblonde" dewaxed shellac tints beautifully with alcohol soluble dyes. There is also a type of lacquer available called cellulose-actetate-Butyrate (CAB). This lacquer is sometimes refered to as water-white lacquer. It thins and sprays like regular lacquer and is clear, rather than amber, like traditional nitrocellulose lacquer. Finally, you can use one of the waterborne finishes. These dry clear, so clear in fact, that they can leave dark woods like walnut looking washed-out and pale. You can tint these with transtint, predissolved water soluble dye, or a little bit of NGR dye. In any case, I suggest that you add a small amount of the dye to a small quantity of the appropriate solvent and then add that a little bit at a time to your finish. In this way, you have much more control over the final colour of your finish.


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## shelly_b (Aug 8, 2012)

Thanks everyone! If I do use it in the finish, I would either prefer to put it in shellac, or water based poly. I really like the durability of poly, and this is going to be in a bathroom. I am still experimenting with the stains. Are there any good light colored, closed grain woods that take stain without blotching?


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## ClintSearl (Dec 8, 2011)

Forget the Mixol, and get a quart (even a sample container may be enough) of Behr Ultra interior flat latex mixed to match the color in the picture. Use it thinned as a wiping stain to let as much of the grain show as you want. Top with any clear; I like SW CAB acrylic solvent lacquer for spraying or Bona Mega waterborne poly floor finish for brushing.


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## kdc68 (Mar 2, 2012)

Are there any good light colored, closed grain woods that take stain without blotching?

*shelly_b*....I don't have a wood to recommend…IMO….no wood species is totally immune to blotching…. That said, there are species more prone to blotching such as pine, poplar, cherry, maple and birch….Blotching is the result of color (dye or pigment stain) being absorbed more in some areas of a board than in others….. Some areas of a board are denser than others. In the less dense areas the pores of the wood are larger and absorb more… In denser areas the pores are smaller and absorb less….
Believe you me, I am no expert in finishing. Fact is I dread that stage of the game. But, through a lot of trial and error I have only used 3 methods (out of many others) to either reduce or eliminate blotching
1) gel stain
2) dewaxed shellac and denatured alcohol mixed in equal parts
3) stain controller
I've seen a lot of helpful suggestions here in this forum, some of which I may try in the future….But nevertheless, you may have to experiment to see which method works best….on scrap of course….Good luck !!


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## JAAune (Jan 22, 2012)

True Honduran mahogany is the only wood I've used that never displayed any blotching tendencies at all. Anyone that's ever worked that species will know why it's been such a coveted wood. Not only does it look good, it also has almost perfect working characteristics. It's getting harder and more expensive to purchase though and not many woodworkers buy it anymore.

To completely eliminate blotching when making significant color changes to wood, it's usually necessary to finish in several steps. An application of diluted shellac or Neil's blotch control followed by a water/dye solution makes for a good base coat. That can be followed by an oil-based stain, topcoated then followed by toner then topcoated again.

Doing finishing in multiple steps allows each stage to use a lighter colored solution than if it were all attempted in one shot. Lighter solutions are easier to apply and blotch less.


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## shelly_b (Aug 8, 2012)

Thanks guys There is a ton of useful info in this thread that will help in not only this project, but alot of my future projects. Clint, that is a great idea! I asked if they could color match the miniwax stain base and they said no, so the thinned paint (I think) will work great. I'm trying to get like a white wash, only in teal. JAAune-thanks I tend to get ahead of myself and want it to look like the end result after the first coat. I have alot more testing to do KDC-I've done the wood conditioner, but haven't tried to seal with shellac yet, so I will try that. I don't think I will be able to find teal gel stain…why couldn't he have chosen a natural color? lol


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## JAAune (Jan 22, 2012)

Clear glazing base + pigments = gel stain equivalent.

You may also be interested in milk paints. They let the wood grain show through and tend to come in pastel colors. Different colors can be mixed and matched. Be aware though, that milk paints don't act like regular paints when being applied.


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## kdc68 (Mar 2, 2012)

*shelly_b*....Here's some potential useful info on tinting shellac

http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/finishing/articles_575.shtml


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## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

I have used the blue on Ash, and it was a little blochy as well. It was for the 2 desks I redid the tops of em for my 2 Grnddaughters last xmas. http://lumberjocks.com/projects/74347 
I only did the tops with the stain. The pics aren't that good either, but, they looked alrite for what it is gonna be. The girls luved em.


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