Wormley Dunbar coffee table finish ideas?  

The machine refused to do the images. Here they are.

Assuming the existing finish is original (lacquer?), my immediate gut response is that I'd want to stay with it. An oil-based finish might darken it somewhat, but the effect would likely be overall.

Trying to mask off the mahogany panels in the field to apply a stain or dye seems like it would be a challenge. Even the 3M green tape carefully burnished down might allow some bleeding. Maybe an intermediate coat of shellac with toned finish on top? Experimentation seems necessary.

Good question, though, and I love seeing pictures of your shop. I'm jealous of the amount of space you have. Mine's busting at the seams!

The shop is such a damned mess that I try to crop photos as best I can... but thanks, tktoo. I agree about the masking difficulties, too; if it were the other way around, and I was hoping to mask the Mahogany, it might be easier. I'm leaning towards dying it all the same tone and then carefully staining only the Mahogany portions... but visualizing the results is kinda driving me crazy. Keeps coming back to a bland Lane Acclaim kinda look which is kinda cheating the materials, I think. Hrm. Topcoat will be lacquer.

There are messier workshops, mgee. Take my word for it. My life has become like one of those 15 tile puzzles where you have to move every tile more than once in order to slide one specific tile over one space. Lately, though, I've come to accept the routine. It helps to distract me from the news.

You have some good machines. Is that a Unifence I spy? I used one for years. The Biesmeyer is probably better, but the ability to slide the Delta forward/aft did come in handy now and then.

It is a Unifence. The handle is a bit broken, but works. I don't use the machines as much as I want to, unfortunately.

I know i am not exactly adressing the issue of wich way to go or how to do it. But i thought i could help a little with the visualizing.

I took the liberty to retouch one of your photos. Nothing too fancy, just a couple of minutes with photoshop. I hope you don

Thank you! I had planned on doing that, or trying to, but I'm not the best with that software. I think that you're right on... with the Walnut sections being warmer as well.

I must admit that i didn

Sebastian, here in the US, properly trained finishers call the rag ball a "tampon", same as you do.

Thanks for the information.

I know it here as a "mu̱eca" a doll, in spanish, or at least we call it that, here in Argentina. Also some old school teacher will call it "poup̩e" as in french doll. Although for what i understand the french call it tampon, as YOU do! Confusing!

Of course. How presumptuous of me!

The funny thing is that the various terms you mention all make perfect sense.

Nicely done images, BTW. Very helpful and generous of you. I think your suggestion regarding the bleeding issue is good, too.

I thought about using lacquer to seal the parts you don't want to darken, but I'm not sure about the alcohol based dye. Have you used it before?

I had some severely bleached teak components of a wall unit that I put together from various sources and after a lot of research I decided to use dye to color them to match the rest of the parts (rather than staining). I found it very, very hard to apply the color evenly. The only way to do it was to do a single long swipe with little to no overlap with the next swipe. This was pretty much impossible except on the loose shelves. Applying it as you would a French polish would have resulted in total blotchiness. Maybe if you use a very weak concentration of dye, you can build up the color to where it's even and uniform, but I would do a lot of experimenting and practice first.

Once the dye is on the wood, you can't just wipe it off and do it over if it's not the way you want it. You can lighten it a bit by going over it immediately with your solvent, but most of the color will be permanent. But again, maybe if you start really pale and build up the color gradually, the margins of each pounce will blend in and look even when you reach the desired color. I was using a concentration that matched the finished color with one application and it was pretty nerve wracking.

I use TransTints, spanky, which are soluble in alcohol and water and many other things. You can really only spray an alcohol dye, I think, mostly for the reasons you suggest. Typically I will raise the grain with water in the process of steaming dents, etc, before applying a solution of TransTints in water. Just a lot more control that way and you're able to control the raised grain better. I definitely made the alcohol mistake the first time I used dye and applied it by hand! I've also used water-soluble Lockwood dyes with good success, but the TransTints are much superior. You can add them to shellac, linseed or Tung oil, or straight into your lacquer finish for great clarity as a toner.

FWIW, I like TransTint dyes, too, for all the reasons mgee mentioned.

Splotchiness has a lot to do with species and grain characteristics, I think. Walnut can be problematic especially pieces with swirling grain. Straight-grained mahogany should take stain more evenly, but neither species are typically "stained" on quality furniture. Rather, high-production shops will often spray on a toned lacquer to help mask uneven color between randomly selected components..

And I'm kinda lovin' this thread, if you couldn't tell. Can't wait for report on results!