Need help with wood graining horn

[Phonotom]

Hi all, I am in the need of someone that can woo grain an 11 panel cygnet horn. Any help would be appreciated. I have talked with Gregg Cline and he is kinda getting out of it. Thanks, Tom

[Curt A]

To get the correct effect for old quartersawn oak, you need a metal check roller or fine tooth metal graining comb (not those rubber rocker graining tools) to get the look of fine grain oak. Modern oak has a wider grain, where old oak has a fine straight grain, so you want to emulate that antique oak look. The rubber rocker graining tools replicate the look of wide grain pine...

Disclosure: I have not done wood graining, but I asked the best wood graining artist I ever met - who did my cygnet horn, how it was done. Unfortunately he died 5 or 6 years ago, so I can't ask him any more questions...

The basics are these: (1) paint the horn with a primer, (2) paint over the primer with a base coat which is a similar color to the oak background - usually a dark yellowish color, (3) spray the base color with a clear coat (lacquer) to keep the graining stain from setting too quickly, (4) apply the graining stain, which can be a gel stain that contrasts and darkens the yellowish background, brush it on in long straight lines, (5) before the graining stain dries, roll the check roller over the panel in straight lines to create the grain effect or use a metal graining comb to create the straight, fine graining, (6) wrap a small cloth around your finger and wipe the stain away to create the "flakes" or tiger striping effect, (7) take a dry cheap paint brush and gently brush - LIGHTLY - over the entire area to blur and blend the graining to give it a more natural effect, (8) when it looks right, wait for it to dry and coat the entire area with a thin coat of amber shellac... I believe that when Danny did my horn he taped every other panel and did them one at a time, when they were done he re-taped the other panels and then proceeded to repeat the procedure on the unfinished panels. This made each panel look like a separate piece of wood, if that makes sense.

Before you start painting your horn, you should practice on something to get the hang of it... Also, keep a picture of a piece of quartersawn oak nearby to compare the flaking pattern... GOOGLE quartersawn oak or tiger oak and you should find a number of pictures.

Here's a video that gives a general tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExHVeUCXwPY
Wood graining check rollers: https://walltools.com/advance-3-wood-gr ... gL77_D_BwE
Wood graining steel combs: https://www.fauxbrushes.com/WD-5.html

[audiophile102]

Hey Curt, thanks for the instructions and links. I went down the rabbit hole of faux graining You Tube videos and it was very enlightening. It would be a fun project.

[Curt A]

Glad it helped or was interesting... I have planned for years to try this on something, but I actually don't have anything that needs woodgraining at the present time.

[Phonotom]

Thank you very much for the directions. Just went and bought supplies.

[Curt A]

If anyone tries this, please post your results, as it would be very interesting to see. Good luck...

Also, I checked on Amazon for "metal combs" and there are some inexpensive hair styling combs that would probably work well and dog grooming combs, if you want a cheaper alternative to professional graining combs. I don't see what the difference would be and I would get them in various tooth spacing for variety. If you try the hair styling combs, I would remove the outer first and last tooth, which are wider and may give a distorted result. I also think you could use a cheap whisk broom or other brush with stiff bristles to do the graining pattern, so it's time to experiment... For small areas you could use a firm toothbrush with some of the bristles removed... just thinking.

For $9.98 with free shipping, you can get a 3 piece graining set which has a triangle comb that is perfect for oak graining:
https://www.amazon.com/Allway-GT3-Grain ... SWJ8HSQET0

The picture below shows antique woodgraining tools called scumblers, which would be easy to make... the red triangle comb is from the Amazon set.

[chrisg]

John Duffy offered me a 25 dollar horn. I thought it would be a good horn to try to wood grain . First try, not great, red mahogany is too dark but I will blast it and try another color combo

[Curt A]

Chris,
It looks like a good start... it just takes some experimenting.

[Phonotom]

Looks like it came out better than mine. I decided to just paint my 11 panel cygnet. Couldn't get the grain to look good. I tried several colors and combinations. Tom

[52089]

John Duffy offered me a 25 dollar horn. I thought it would be a good horn to try to wood grain . First try, not great, red mahogany is too dark but I will blast it and try another color combo

I think that's a damn fine first attempt! I couldn't do that after 50 tries. Can't wait to see how good it looks with a bit more experience!