Dark finish for Paul’s floor lamp
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My daughter has asked I make her Paul’s Floor Lamp in a dark shade. Not black but something darker that oak.
What wood could be paired with a stain that would give a darker finish?Hi Joe. You can make Oak pretty dark if you are talking about dyes and stains. Think of the dark craftsman style furniture, though that may be to reddish for what you have in mind. Lots of it is quite dark and their are ways to get it dark without the nasty fuming that they did in factories.
The only wood that I have used that turns dark easily is Walnut. The color of kiln dried walnut is not very nice on its own. It has a purplish or greyish tint. While experimenting, I discovered that plain BLO turns it a dark chocolate brown. I then tried Watco Danish Oil and it turned the Walnut a very similar chocolate color — maybe it has BLO in it? I also tried Walnut Watco, which has something called asphaltum as a colorant I believe. It did not seem to have much extra effect on the pieces I tried. You can actually buy asphaltum in some paint stores and it is an ingredient in some home made mixes for craftsmen furniture. So I went with plain Watco Danish Oil. To give you an idea, I will attach a few pics of a chest I made with Walnut. Oh, the walnut was a very nice wood to work with using handtools!
I am sure others have some experience with darker woods or making woods dark.
This is oak with General Finishes water based dye (“Dye stain”). Various colors were mixed. If you haven’t used dyes, you could look at some of their stains.
Some beautiful examples provided. Thanks to all for excellent guidance.
Perhaps a bit late an addition: steel wool in vinegar will generate a stain that “ebonises” oak.
A link to a video showing the technique. It doesn’t look too complicated.
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