Now that my painting is complete, I’m moving over to a pair of tables. I asked a friend if he could build me two matching bedside tables. One week later, I had this pretty pair. Great job, R.H.!
I had a plan… First, I wanted a grey stain and since I’ve done this before, I gathered my steel wool and white vinegar.
A small handful of steel wool and a cup or so of vinegar and I left them set for a day. I have done this technique before… but I can’t remember where I used it!
My test spot was absolutely a perfect grey stain. I had a small foam brush and quickly painted it on. Initially, it looks like water and it’s very misleading in that it’s easy to miss spots or double up creating streaks. However, when I painted the legs, they turned more of a red/grey stain. I wasn’t very happy with that. I had planned to make the top a warm brown stain, but if I do that now, it will look like I have used three different stains. I don’t like that idea.
Do I paint the top? Do I stain the top an almost black stain? I don’t want to paint it black. These tables are making my brain work!
Find me here!
So Carol, here’s what I think is going on. But first some technical stuff.
1. The wood: Although Joan’s idea has merit, to me the wood looks to all be from the same lot. The color difference on the top end(s) look to be more from oxidation (why they always look at the bottom of drawers & tables on the road show). There are different grain patterns but that is mostly due to how/where the log is cut at the mill, and that can affect how much stain is needed to penetrate the wood but much less the color I believe.
2. The chemistry: Vinegar is acetic acid and steel wool is very low-grade steel (doesn’t have much carbon in it). So, the acetic acid reacts with the steel to produce iron oxide (rust, where the red color in the solution comes from). The iron oxide reacts w/ oxygen & turns charcoal to dark black. These reactions will go on until one of the elements isn’t available anymore. The acid/steel reaction is very active, the iron oxide/O2 reaction is a lot slower and occurs at the surface where there’s air. You want to stop the production of red iron oxide and minimize the production of more charcoal color through oxidation w/ air. I suspect you kept producing red while reducing the total volume of the solution available to turn charcoal and that’s why you got a red-ish leg
3. What I would do: Unfortunately, start over. Sand the existing colors off, at least the red, stain shouldn’t be too deep. Then restart your stain solution and make enough to do both tables. Stir the solution regularly and test the color on the underside of one of the bottom shelves or the table top. When you have the color you want, take the steel wool out of the solution and pour it through a coffee filter (or similar) into and air tight jar/container.
This will stop the production of red iron oxide and iron oxide + O2 to charcoal. Keep the jar/container sealed tight when not in use.
Alternatively you can buy a pint of charcoal (or black) stain and cut it w/ mineral spirits to the shade you want…
4. My read of your situation and worth mostly what ya paid for it…. Hope it’s helpful…
Bert
An oil-based stain should not leave streaks but it will absorb differently in different areas of the wood, as all stains do. I’d say try it and then you can paint over it if you still don’t like how it looks. If it were me, I’d paint it gray and paint on accents on the top and down the legs.
Looking at the tables before any work, it seems like maybe different kinds of pine? The originals are at least 3 different colors, so wouldn’t that make the stain work differently on them? I admit I’ve never done wood staining that I remember.
Why the painter’s tape in the tops? Does the vinegar and steel wool act as a stain?