Expert: Jamie Yocono - 2/17/2010

Question
Hi Jamie,

Your Watco oil video at your blog really helped me once before, so I'm visiting this site with a question.

I have a file cabinet made of 3/4" birch plywood. I'm planning to put 1-2 coats of Watco oil on it (just enough to accentuate the grain) and then seal with a harder finish.

Problem is, I believe two pieces (a crown moulding at the top and a skirt piece just under the lower drawer) may be different woods. The moulding is much lighter than the plywood (pine? aspen?) and the skirt looks reddish-brown (my closest guess is maple or maybe oak, although it's not too porous). I bought this over the Internet so I can't ask the maker about it.

I used some of the Watco natural to test three small areas. When wet the woods really looked different (grain, color, etc.)

I am concerned about getting these parts to match. I know how Watco natural looks on maple and birch furniture that I finished, and the results are not similar.

If I use a tinted Watco oil, will the different woods take on the characteristic of the tint, or will they still look like "themselves," just with a tinted finish?

Or would a stain base and natural Watco be a better choice for color consistency? If so, what kind of stain (liquid, gel?) would you recommend to bring out (not cover) the birch grain and also have the best chance of matching the other pieces?

Thanks so much for your help.

Answer
Hi Susan,

I would recommend a gel stain, as it goes on a little more controllable. It will allow you to control the amount of stain on the different woods, so that they will match. It's been my experience (with other stains) that if the woods are different, the stain will just darken the woods, but they will STILL look different. Gel stain is slightly more opaque, you can apply it a little heavier on the lighter woods, and lighter on the dark woods, thus blending them.

Watco, unfortunately, isn't great at making different woods look the same. It's my one complaint about it. :/

I don't really have a recommendation of a decent gel stain, but her is a link to a helpful article in Fine Woodworking magazine: http://www.finewoodworking.com/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesArticle.as...

Good luck, hope this helps.

Jamie



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Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com
My woodworking blog: www.wooditis.blogspot.com