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Marc:Today we're going to take this old
rocking chair and we're going to give it
a deep red mahogany finish.
(music)
So here's the story behind this chair.
Nicole comes to me about a year ago
and says, "Here's this beat up old chair.
"It's my mom's, it used to belong to my
"grand mom and it's something we want to
"keep in the family, can you fix it?"
Well, of course it was pretty much totaled.
Pieces were falling off, there were legs
that were broken.
This thing need a lot of work.
But, hey, it's a family heirloom, right?
So I want to make it look good and I want
to make sure it's actually functional for the family.
Well, come to find out, it was actually
just a flea market find that my mother-in-law
really likes.
Still, that's a good enough reason to do it
but it kind of changes the story a little bit.
Either way, it was time to get to the project.
That was about a year ago.
So you guys know how that goes.
Sometimes these projects sit around and
you just don't get a chance to get to them.
Well, the chair has been repaired.
That's not really the point of this video.
In fact, I wasn't going to cover this at all
in a video but once I got to the finish,
I realized there was some really valuable
information here that I know you guys
would appreciate.
This looks to be some type of mahogany.
There are some mahogany like woods that kind of
confuse me and I have a hard time telling
them apart, especially if it's a foreign made chair.
This one, I really don't know what the history
of it is.
I took off all the upholstering and everything
that was on there, just got it down to the wood frame
and it's a very mahogany like wood.
I can't honestly say whether it is or not
but it really doesn't matter because the finish
that we're going to give it is going to be
so deep and rich, it will actually mask
a good amount of the grain.
That was the type of finish that was on here before
and I'm going to replicate that.
So let me show you some of the details
of the finishes we're going to use
and how we're going to approach it.
Now, a really deep, rich, red mahogany finish
can be kind of tricky to get to and it really
depends on the type of wood that you're
starting with.
If you want and try and make maple or poplar
or something that really isn't even close
to that look, if you want to try and make
that look like a red mahogany finish
or a deep cherry finish, that's a little bit
more of a challenge.
That's a big color shift.
But if you're starting with something
like mahogany, for instance, or whatever
this chair happens to be made out of,
it tends to be a little bit easier because
it already has reds and browns in it.
You just need to enhance those.
And that's what we're going to do today.
But still, even then, it's a two part process.
Because a lot of times it's difficult to find
the perfect finish that has both all the red
and all the brown that I want.
So a lot of times I like to do it in two steps.
And to tell you the truth, there must be thousands
of combinations of things that we can do.
Different types of finishes.
Whether it's water-based or oil-based.
Gel stains versus dyes.
Whatever you want to use.
You can do it a hundred different ways.
Thousand different ways.
What I am going to do today is basically
just pulled a couple things out of the
finish cabinet and I'm going to use
a combination of, first of all, one coat
of a dye stain, which is going to bring
most of the red to the party.
It's a Merlot General Finishes water-based dye.
That's going to give it a really deep, rich
red color but quite a bit more red than I really want.
But that's the undertone that we're going for.
On top of that, I'm going to use an oil-based
gel stain which is brown mahogany.
The brown mahogany is a little bit too brown.
I don't have enough red undertones.
So when you use these together, it actually
makes a really beautiful finish.
So I have a piece of mahogany here that I'm using
as a test and what I've got ...
Okay, this is just plain mahogany here.
You can see the colors.
This is the brown mahogany gel stain alone.
Behind this, ignore this middle section, here.
But this is the Merlot water-based dye.
And right here is where I let the water-based
dye dry and I used the brown mahogany gel stain
on top of the red Merlot color.
And you can see that actually brings me
exactly where I want to be.
The other advantage here is, this is an old chair.
The chair is dinged up.
I've sanded it pretty decent.
The problem is, you're never going to get
all those dents out.
And, in fact, that kind of removes some
of the charm.
It's an older piece.
It shouldn't look brand new.
And we're going to give it an upholstery job
that's going to make it look like it came
from the time when it was originally made.
So trying to get all those dents and everything
really removes all the character.
So I'm going to leave them in there
but I do want to even out some of the flaws
on the surface.
If there's little black marks or things
that I just couldn't sand out.
So a gel stain is perfect for that because
I could very carefully blend it in and just
get a nice, even color over the whole chair.
And gel stains kind of stay on the surface and don't
necessarily absorb as deeply.
So you can push the color around a little bit
and get a really, really nice deep, rich
color that you're looking for.
And a little bit of that grain masking
that we were talking about.
And that's really it.
Two hand-applied finishes.
I could go the route of spraying dyes
and doing multiple coats.
Maybe putting a little bit of pigment into
some lacquer or something and creating a toner.
Perfect legitimate way to go and, in fact,
might even be a faster way to go.
But what I wanted to show you, because I know
most of you guys don't necessarily have
HVLP systems and don't have the means to spray,
a nice hand-applied version of this finish
which I think is perfectly acceptable.
So, at this point, what I'm going to do
is grab a spray bottle of water.
I'm going to spray the whole thing down,
let it dry, and I want to pre-raise that grain.
Because I have a water-
Oops, that's the oil.
I have a water-based dye here.
When that dye hits the surface the water
swells the wood fibers and we're going to get
a really rough surface that's going to have
to be sanded.
We don't want to do that if there's dye in the mix.
So we pre-raise the grain by spraying it down
with water, let it dry for an hour or so,
then come back, sand it lightly with 220, 180
grit, and then we can start applying our stain.
So let's get to it.
(music)
Now, in the literature you'll see most people
recommend using distilled water for this purpose.
You can buy that at the grocery store in gallons.
You know, and I guess the idea is you want
to avoid any excess minerals or anything
being in the water that could cause staining
on the surface of the wood.
You know, honestly, I've never really had
a problem with that, so I'm just using tap water here.
But if you do any test boards and hit it
with your regular tap water and you notice
that there's some black spotting or some
issues developing, you definitely want to go
with distilled.
So after the pre-raising I sanded everything
nice and smooth again and we're ready
to apply the dye.
Now, with dye, once it hits the surface of the wood,
that wood is like a sponge.
It pulls that dye, the moisture and the color,
into the fibers.
And sometimes it can be a little bit too aggressive
and you can end up with a little bit of unevenness.
So what I like to do is take that same spray bottle
of water and I spray the wood ahead of time
with a light mist.
And what that does is it lets the wood soak in
clear water first and then once I apply the dye
I'll have a little bit more working time
to push the color around because the wood
isn't so thirsty, it's already picked up
some moisture from the water.
So let's go ahead and start applying some color.
Just using a cotton scrap of T shirt material here.
Just wipe it into the surface.
You can see, it's a little excessive
in terms of the red color but that's all right
because it's an undertone.
And once it's dry it'll lighten up a little bit.
So I'm just going to follow the same process
over the entire piece.
(music)
Now as I apply the dye to the last part
of the chair, here, you'll notice over the rest
of it as the dye starts to dry, it takes on
a little bit of a lighter tone.
But the deep rich color will come back
once you put some finish on it.
So we're not too worried about that.
What we're really concerned about is creating
a deep undertone.
Now, this is kind of a weird story but it's one
that sort of taught me a lesson about
deep, rich layering of color and how
you can only get that with layers as opposed
to one color hitting it at once.
When I went and got my first tattoo I was
18 years old and I saw a few pictures of tatoos
in a little photo album that the guy had there.
And I saw this one amazing tattoo.
It just looked like nothing I had ever seen before
that would be possible on skin.
And it was just, the color was amazing.
It's really hard to describe.
And I said, "That's what I want."
I said, "That just has so much depth to it,
"it's amazing."
And the guy said, "You can't have that."
And I was like, "Well why not?"
He said, "The person who had this done
covered up another tattoo."
So what they were showing was the depth
of multiple colors being layered.
He said, "Technically, if you want to have
"a tattoo and then have it re-layered over,
"we might be able to work something like that out
"but the reason this thing looks the way it does
"is because there's layers of color and design
"built into it."
So it's almost an accidental thing in that instance.
But, here, we're sort of relying on a similar concept.
We have the original light brown, medium brown,
tone of the wood.
It's getting hit with something that seems like
an excessive amount of red.
It's that Merlot red, which almost has
a purple, pinkish quality to it.
Which, in and of itself, I'm not sure that this
would go over very well.
But once we hit it with that final coat
of brown on top, when you layer those colors
together, the end result is something
that's absolutely stunning but we might not
have necessarily been able to hit that
with one coat of a single color.
Now, you also might notice that there are
some areas that I haven't hit
on the insides here.
This whole middle section is upholstered.
So whether or not it gets hit with color
really doesn't matter all that much.
I'll hit it with a little bit but I'm not
too concerned about it.
And one other thing I wanted to point out.
As you're applying the dye, a lot of times
you'll do one face and you may not get back
to this section, here, until after you've done
some other parts and this is dried.
So you may get some edges where the color looks
like it's a little heavy right around the edge.
Well here's the great thing.
This is water-based dye.
Just take your rag and just rub harder
and it will even that color out.
And if you're really having a hard time with it,
just spray it with some water and that will
dilute it down, wipe it down, and you'll get
a nice, even surface when it's all said and done.
Okay, so the water-based dye is nice and dry
and I'm ready to apply the gel stain.
What I have here is a little Gladware type
plastic container with just a little bit
of mineral spirits in there.
And I like to dilute my gel stains just
a little bit.
Not too much, because if you go too far
you're defeating the purpose of using a gel stain.
So just a little bit to loosen it up.
And it gives me a little bit more working time
with the gel stain.
So here's my application strategy.
Got a nice, clean rag here.
Well, sort of clean.
It's got a little bit of the dye from my gloves.
And I will apply a nice, liberal coat.
So while it's still wet, I want to wipe off
the excess.
And you notice I stopped where the grain
changes direction.
As long as you move quickly you don't have
to be too careful about it.
But the clean rag, or in this case, an old
smelly sock, is good to wipe off all that excess.
And then go back to the wet application.
Okay, now I'm going to try and get this whole
vertical piece in one shot here.
And don't be afraid of putting too much on.
Basically you want the surface to pick up
as much as it can on its own and then you
come back with the clean rag and you wipe
off the excess.
That way the wood will evenly take up what
it's going to take up.
If you're very, very stingy with your stain
and you're just trying to make it last longer
and rubbing really hard into the wood,
you're going to wind up with an uneven staining
when it's all said and done, which you do not want.
Okay and then, basically, once I finish one section
I look for the spots that I've just touched
because those are the ones that I want
to do next.
I don't want that little bit of extra material, here,
I really don't want that to dry before I apply stain
to the rest of that piece.
Because it could wind up leaving a mark.
So let's move right along.
Okay and now back with the clean rag.
Wipe off all of that excess.
Now I'm just going to do this entire chair
using the same exact process.
Doing, you know, one piece at a time like this
and then wiping off the excess.
Before you know it, we will be done.
Now, I told you that one of the great things
about gel stain is that you can use it
to hide flaws.
And selectively add a little bit more color
in one area than another.
So right here, this is a location of one
of my epoxy repairs.
And you can see there's a little bit of a light spot
right in here.
So I'm going to use just a little bit of extra stain
in that area to disguise it.
So I basically just dabbed on a whole schmutz
load here and then I'm going to just slowly
wipe across to distribute it so it's relatively
heavy here and tapers off on the rest of it.
And once this dries it's very, very hard to detect that.
Okay, but the way we do that is by using
something that, for the most part, masks the grain.
Now, I'm going to let this dry overnight.
If you're not happy with the color, you can
always add another coat.
But resist the urge to add another coat now.
If you do, you can actually wind up
pulling up a lot of that color that we just
put down and you can get some really
nasty finishing issues with that if you try
to reapply it before it's fully cured.
So just let this dry.
Tomorrow, the next day, check it out.
See if you like the color.
If you do, good, you can apply a top coat.
If not, you could always add another coat
of the gel stain at that point.
I think we got really good coverage here,
I think we're going to be able to proceed
right away with our top coat.
So now it's a few days later and I've applied
about 5 coats of a beautiful satin lacquer
over the entire chair.
And you can see this area still doesn't
look that great but it's going to be
covered with the upholstery.
Everything that matters looks really, really nice.
And the finish is pretty much everything
I expected it to be.
There's quite a bit of grain masking
but that's how it was on the original.
And those two different layers of color
really got the effect that I wanted to.
And a lot of people overvthink the process
to achieve a finish like this and they're
using glazes and things like that.
There's nothing wrong with those methods
but sometimes it's just not really that necessary.
You can do it with fewer steps.
So the finish that I used was a lacquer that was
done via HVLP and I apologize for not
showing it to you guys but the last time
I filmed myself spraying I got a bunch of
water-based finish on the lens.
Fortunately it cleaned off very easily.
I'm not 100% sure how well a nitrocellulose lacquer
is going to come off if that happens to get
on the lens.
So at some point in the future I'll figure out
a better way to do it.
Maybe when I have a nice hood set up
or something and there's no fumes coming
toward the camera I know that it won't get
on the lens.
But for now, since I spray outside in the driveway,
the over spray gets everywhere and I just
don't trust it.
Now, the finish that I used was a can of
Frazee clear satin lacquer.
That's all it says and it's about all
the information I could find on it.
Frazee was the closest place to me.
I usually use Sherwin Williams when I buy
my gallons and I went in and said, "Do you guys
"have lacquer?"
And the guy said, he said, "What color?"
I said, "Preferably clear."
And he pointed me to a couple dusty cans
of this stuff sitting on the shelf and I said,
"What kind of lacquer is that offhand?"
And he said, "Oh, it's satin."
So, it was very helpful.
I assume that it's just the regular nitrocellulose lacquer.
Certainly applies that way.
I don't see any indication that it's anything else.
Usually what I use is a cab acrylic lacquer
from Sherwin Williams, which is a really
nice product, but they didn't have any
at my local Sherwin Williams.
Now, speaking of over spray.
Spraying a piece like this, especially outside
when there's no specific flow.
If you're in front of a hood all the over spray
is usually pooled towards the hood and it makes it
a little bit more cleaner to apply.
So what happens when the over spray tends
to go everywhere, it gets on all of the parts
that you're not directly spraying.
And what it winds up doing is creating
a little bit of a rough finish.
So I applied about four coats that way,
sanding in between with 600 grit wet, dry paper,
and the final coat, what I do is thin it
pretty significantly using lacquer thinner.
Probably about 75% lacquer thinner and maybe
25% of the lacquer.
The idea is to apply a very thin, thin coat
that doesn't contain much varnish.
Because the lacquer over spray ...
I'm sorry, the lacquer thinner over spray
doesn't really cause as much of a problem.
The thinner just kind of hits the surface,
absorbs, and it's not as much of an issue.
So I like to apply a very light and thin coat.
I lower the air pressure so it's minimal over spray
and then I go over the whole surface and it usually
leaves me with a nice finish and any random
over spray doesn't really affect the rest
of the parts.
So this is the final product.
I think it's going to make my mother-in-law
pretty happy and, at this point, we just need
to contact the upholsterer and get that
upholstery work done.
So I hope you learned something with this.
It was just a random little tidbit that I wanted
to share with you.
But time to move on to bigger and better projects.
Thanks for watching.
(music)