Green Oak Refinishing

[LimeTree99]

I've had a long case Edison Home phonograph for a while now, and every surface of the case & lid (aside from the face with the banner) had been stripped and refinished in polyurethane by a previous owner. The end result of this refinishing job, is that all the wood is noticeably lighter than the front, which was left original.

Now that I've stripped the polyurethane off, I'm left with the bare wood that has about 50% of the "green" color it should have. Does anyone have any tips for imitating this "green oak" look before applying a shellac finish?
I'm not sure what process the Edison factory used to achieve the green color, but my best guess is some water soluble dye wiped over the wood before finishing.

[Nipper The Cat]

If you look at the inside of the case, or the inside of the lid, you can see that the wood was originally subjected to some kind of green dye. I would guess that the dye was also dissolved in the final finish. Mohawk/Behlen sells an excellent universal dye, formerly marketed as solar-luxe, now seems to be re-branded as NGR dye. This product dissolves readily in shellac. You will probably need several colors to match the original -- most likely green, yellow and black, and will have to play with this a bit. Keep in mind that if orange rather than clear shellac is used the shellac will have a tint of its own, and that the old shellac has muddied and age darkened.

You will need to apply the new finish with a compressor and spray gun; a brush or rag is going to leave streaks in the finish.

My guess is that the wood filler (the filler to plug the pores of the wood, not the filler to repair damage) was also stained dark green before application or else was susceptible to the original stain. If your case has been stripped down you have likely pulled out the original filler. The filler not only levels out the wood, but when properly applied will give you the original tiger stripe appearance.

This is a tough finish to match. Good luck.

[JeffR1]

I would use Mohawks' aniline base stain, known as their ultra penetrating stain.
That can be mixed to any colour you want, as Nipper The Cat suggested for his product.

It can also be diluted with methyl hydrate or acetone.
It's called a transparent stain where is colours the wood without muddying up the grain.

It's applied to the wood directly, so you don't have to worry about getting the shellac even.

[Nipper The Cat]

You can certainly get a decent result by applying stain directly to the wood, but if you also mix stain in the finish you arrive at something closer to original finish. The stain seems to even out any defects or inconsistencies in the color of the case. You see this a lot in mahogany finishes.

[LimeTree99]

Finally got around to this project, and in my opinion, the results are satisfactory.
I ended up using two different water based stains/dyes for the color matching. The first being Minwax water based stain in walnut. While effective, it has a working time of less than two minutes, which took some time getting used to. The second being TransTint green dye. I thinned it with water, and applied numerous washes, letting the wood dry in between until the green began to show through. After everything was fully dry, I finished the case and lid with amber shellac.

Before:

Edison Home Before.png (598.09 KiB) Viewed 6253 times

After:

Edison Home After.png (632.03 KiB) Viewed 6253 times

If I had to do this over, I wouldn't go with the Minwax water based stuff. The working time is far too short, and unlike oil based stain, is prone to leaving blotchy patches if you're not careful.

[Inigo]

A great job, it looks fantastic...!
How did you apply the amber shellac? Diluted? Several layers? With cotton pad, sprayed, paintbrush...?

[LimeTree99]

A great job, it looks fantastic...!
How did you apply the amber shellac? Diluted? Several layers? With cotton pad, sprayed, paintbrush...?

Thanks!

I used three coats of shellac thinned in a 2:1 ratio with denatured alcohol, and brushed it on with a synthetic artists brush.
Admittedly, the pores could probably stand to be filled better. I had Aquacoat pore filler on hand, but it had been sitting for over a year, which I thought was getting too close to its reported shelf life.

Might just bite the bullet and use it anyway down the road now that the wood is sealed.

[Inigo]

Thanks!