I made a bedroom suit for a customer in red oak with only a CAB acrylic lacquer finish about 15 years ago. They have decided that they would like me to tint it a medium to dark brown...or paint it.
I have used dye in lacquer before, but it was just to fine tune already stained pieces. Has anyone ever tried to tint a lightly stained (or unstained) sealed piece?
Any suggestions appreciated. There really isn't a budget for stripping down to bare wood and starting over, so I was hoping for a light sanding and going from there.
From contributor Sh
it can be done...... clean it well with vm&P naptha first. Scuff it down with 320-400 grit. get some Mohawk M520- dyes of your choice. Mix 4 oz. of your colors/color of dye into 28 oz. of acetone. put the bed and rails together and tone it lightly and slowly build up the color with a cup gun with round pattern and low air pressure. bring the color into about half the intensity needed. Shoot a topcoat on it with your cab or nitro topcoat and begin bringing the color to it's final intensity. shoot final topcoat right over with a nice wet pass or two.... done. It takes some skill to get the gun settings right and to overlap your patterns correctly without getting odd streaks & stripes... you can do it just be even & thorough. That dye formula is pretty safe to build slowly without throwing too much color at one time down...
From contributor Vi
"build up the color with a cup gun with round pattern and low air pressure"
I am working on learning a good toning technique lately..
Do you use a round pattern for most or all of your toning? Do you prefer that over a standard "oval" pattern? I have only experimented with oval so far. Could round be better?
From contributor ri
You'll need to learn some new skills as well. Practice on a piece of junk furniture from Goodwill. There won't be an opportunity to "work" the color. What you spray is what you get. Overlap one surface a little more and you will see streaking. Especially difficult around moldings, legs, and small surfaces. It's way more difficult than spraying clear!
From contributor JR
I would over glaze.
From contributor An
Shane,
Thanks for the info. I've used the Mohawk dyes before, and it definitely is pretty tricky getting an even finish. That's why I only like to use it in lacquer to do fine tuning. I'm nervous about attempt a color change to this extent.
I'm also a bit concerned about the chances of scratches peeling off the color, and exposing the light natural finish too easily. Is that reasonable?
JR,
I've never tried glaze over a lacquered finish. What kind do you suggest?
From contributor Sh
That's why I suggest toning the color onto the piece and then locking it into the topcoats.... much less chance of the scratches/wear showing the natural color than when just adding the color straight to your clear and using it as a toner....Obviously the best way is having color laid down on raw wood but you said no money in it for full refinish... You can bring the color in evenly with mouldings and radiused areas.... the trick is not going to far too fast... multiple passes with weak color is the answer..... I work for a full custom commercial millwork company. I have eight open faced booths shooting ten hours a day adjusting with dyes to get everything they shoot spot on with their control samples...We have all different shapes and sizes.. trim.. flat wall panels.. cabinet doors, entry doors, reception desk... low walls..Entry doors you name it. In the end it all has to match the approved color we have signed off... by the time we buy and lay up skids and stacks and stacks of veneer to make panels it all varies in color a bit and the basic finish recipe is only a starting point.... the end result is a control sample in that finishers hand and his ability to see color and make changes. does it need red, green, yellow,, more brown green, more red green.. a blue black, a green black
?It's all about knowing your colors and their strength.. if it's wrong or too dark it gets washed down and we start over.... period. you just have to approach it cautiously and without guns a blazin'....
