# Acacia dining room table - how to best stain it and bring out its grain



## heinrich (Jul 27, 2016)

Hello everyone

I have recently made an acacia dining room table (white acacia / black locust), and am unsure how to best make its grain "pop". Out goal is to have the typical vibrant and contrasting light and dark colours seen on many acacia tables.

Can anyone offer some insight?

thank you

Michael


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

I've never finished Acacia, but I thought the variation was naturally occurring. I would make up a sample board with various stains + topcoats to see what it looks like. 
I tend to favor oil based stains with a lacquer topcoat.


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

For all the acacia I've played with, the most I'd do is add oil and/or poly. The results have been so pleasing I wish I had more.

My brother gave me his tree and I fell in love with it from the first sanding. Enough so I started looking into getting more. I was surprised to learn research takes you to olive wood.

You might turn it over and flood the back with BLO, then a coat of poly to see what you think. If it isn't enough, then you can turn to your test pieces.


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## OSU55 (Dec 14, 2012)

I use dyes rather than stains. You probably don't want a lot of color. You don't mention how you plan to finish it, but here's some info on using oil based poly, any color/intensity you want. The same can be done with Transtint dyes using a clear stain base (I use Target WR4000). Any WB finish can be diluted ~3 or 4 parts water to 1 part finish for a stain base, but the oil emulsion in the WR4000 really brings out the grain much better. Dyes give color without obscuring the grain like pigment stain, which would be a shame with such beautiful grain.


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