Tea to color the wood
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- This topic has 6 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 10 years ago by Florian.
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Hi,
I’ve been experimenting with some household ingredients as coffee, tea and such on alder. I really liked the result the assam tea gave me. I put on two coats, followed by light sanding followed by a third coat after which the color was very pleasing. Three coats of shellac later after waxing I am even more pleased with the result.
The only thing I do ask myself is how stable the color will be. Have you made comparable experiences?
I would like to use it on a project I am working on at the moment and I fear I won’t have enough time to expose my test piece to different influences before I “have” to hand it over as a present.
I know it’s not the best idea to try new things on projects that are meant to last but it’s very tempting…Florian,
I cannot say anything about how UV resistant tea will be, but I know we’d really like to se a picture of what you’ve got so far 🙂 I was thinking about using tea for staining as well, maybe even carrot or spinach can be used. There’s got to be some information on the internet on this I would think.
David
Hey David,
it’s nothing special, just a small piece of wood, neither carefully sawn nor sanded.
Left is the tea finnish, right just two coats of shellac on the back side of the same piece of wood, which is alder, and which is a, well, not very expressive wood but with a “cup of tea” I like it.
Alder is one of the least expensive species at my lumberyard, around the same price as local pine, so I gave it a try. It’s very homogenous with no big differences between early and late growth and it carves nicely. It’s always very exciting to get to know new species that I haven’t touched before beside collecting branches for my sister’s christmas decoration 😉
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.Thanks for the pictures, Florian.
I didn’t find anything regarding the stability of such a stain, but I found some interesting references to staining with tea, steel-wool and vinegar:
http://www.woodworking.org/WC/Garchive01/3_27colorants.html
My Experience Staining Wood With Tea, Steel Wool And Vinegar
My guess is the iron-oxide might be less prone to be bleached by the sun. The tea seems to be used for its tannin, not its coloring properties. Anyway, I think I might give this a try if I get the chance.
David
Hi David,
thanks, I tried it on oak and had the steel-wool in the alcohol only for one day. It turned very dark immediately.
For the present project, I don’t want such a strong darkening, I just want to keep it natural. I hope to have the joinery done on wednesday and then I will decide what to do. One idea is to just mix some pigments into the shellac and go with that, then do some further testing to use the “kitchen-stain” on later projects.Cheers,
Florian
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