We have a trim color

My Brown Mahogany TransTint Dye came on Thursday afternoon and Saturday afternoon I got a chance to try it out.

First I had to calculate the proper proportions of dye to shellac the bottle says 1 oz of dye to 1 quart of shellac. I scaled the recipe back to 1.56CCs of dye to 50CCs of shellac. For this step I used one of my measuring cups from Rockler and a syringe I bought from the farm section of my local Fleet Farm. I ordered some syringes and assorted measuring vessles from American Science and Surplus on Friday but alas they did not arrive on time.



Next I measured out the dye and shellac, I had to dump the dye out on a little plastic saucer in order to suck it up with the syringe the neck of the dye bottle was just a bit too small


After measuring out the proper proportions I mixed the dye into the shellac and then applied to my sample piece using a piece of an old t-shirt
I was so pleased with the way it came out I stripped my original test piece and refinished it with the shellac.

New (Here I'm comparing it with the trim that is yet to be stripped, I may darken this piece up a bit with another coat):

Old:By my calculations I should need two bottles of dye to slightly less than one gallon of shellac. I'm still thinking I should be able to do all the kitchen trim and doors with one gallon of shellac. Once I get the final mixed up I should be able to finish the door that has been sitting in my shop since January. Whoo hoo, Progress!

Trim Attempts 1 and 2

Well five cans of finish and we're no closer to picking a trim stain.

Here was Attempt #1
From Left to right we have Antique Walnut, Royal Walnut, and Olde Maple. None of them seemed quite what I was looking for but I did think perhaps by mixing the bombay mahogany and the antique walnut I might achieve just the color I was looking for.

So then we have Attempt #2

At this point I was thinking... maybe the Polyshades isn't the way to go maybe I'll try the pre-stain wood conditioner on the pine and try to finish it that way. So samples one and two are regular Minwax stains Red Oak and Red Mahogany. Although the pre-stain wood conditoner helped I still thought it came out blotchy. Samples 3 and 4 are different mixes of the bombay mahogany and antique walnut. Neither of them was really what I was looking for it just ends up being a bit too red to complement the floor.

So then I did what I should have done before I started this little project I googled "finishing pine" so now I'm working on attempt #3 where I use thinned shellac as a sealer and a gel stain instead of a liquid stain. Here's hoping third time is the charm.