Finishing Mahogany: 3 Tips for Beautiful Color in Your Woodworking Projects 

How did it go? I've just discovered my buffet is a Brickwede and has a horrible mess on it. I just started sanding it, and excited to see it all coming off!

Check out oil with alkanet pigment.

I didn't know we can stain between 2 finishes until now. I thought finish(varnish,lacquer...) should always be the last step, and it is hard to stain a finished surface, interesting!

Cole Rossouw Thanks! Got a few more in the queue for production. Hang tight!

Best? Hard to say because every finish does come with a downside. You can move on to a polyurethane if you're looking for better abrasion resistance, but it will eventually chip and/or scratch with hard use in the hands of kids. I don't think that's a step in the right direction, but that's my opinion. I believe you're better off sticking with the linseed oil since it's so easy to refresh with a new coat when the time comes.

Generally it's a good idea to do a coat or two of sealer after just to ensure your top coat will adhere. But it really depends on the products you intend to use. You most likely don't *need* it. Conversely, I just prefer to use a couple coats of dewaxed shellac as a sealer after the filler, then do a couple coats for the top coat. But it's just a preference I've acquired over the years.

Woodworkers Source - that’s exactly what I did. I Appreciate the reply... as a novice it seemed like a ton of steps in this process - and maybe it was- but the results are without question-worth it. Very happy I found this- thanks again

@@thefingerwitch Great to hear! Thanks

Woodworkers Source are these techniques and materials the same for exterior wood? Like a front door.

Do you sand in-between sealer coats?

Iv found if i sand the end grain to a higher grit then the rest of the project it absorbs less dye. For me this balances out the look.

Sounds like you've been working with Khaya (the unrelated "African Mahogany") instead of Mahogany. While it's called a Mahogany one of the give aways is the more redish hues. Honduran Mahogany (which is one of 3 only true mahoganies) is lighter on a whole and can vary into the light sand spectrum in color.

I would use a spar urethane

marinosr

None of these answered my question how do you stop the end grain from turning black when you put a finish on mahogany

Seal the end grain first. This will prevent the dye from soaking in.

Or would you use the Old Masters Woodgrain Filler shown around 2:30 in the video for exterior use?

Old Masters told me their grain filler is for interior use only. Any product suggestions for exterior grain filling?

Yes it's wood.

That one was Solar Lux "Med Brown Walnut" color, believe it or not. It comes out kinda red on mahogany.

Minwax products. Home depot

No, not necessarily. The order in which you apply the stuff actually depends on the products you end up buying. For the products used here the steps go: Finish sanding > Dye > clear sealer > wood filler > clear top coat finish But if you use a water based wood filler like Timbermate, you'd actually apply that to the bare wood first. So the steps would go like: Wood filler > finish sanding > dye > sealer > clear top coat. Oil based wood filler, depending on the brand, usually get applied on top of a sealer. And since dyes only color bare wood, you should dye the wood first, then seal, then fill the grain. Conversely water based fillers work better when they're applied to bare wood rather than sealed wood. So you've gotta change up the order of events depending on what you've got.

THANKYOU BUD

Miguel Elizondo what is occurring, is that moisture is trapped below the finish . we call it "blushed" or blushing. The wood is possibly obsorbing ground moisture, if this is the case you may have to sand to bare wood and restain . using a compatible finish coat. A laquer retarder will deblush it. But if the blush returns, you'll have to sand to bare, and start over. Hope this helps you .

Chuck Wiesner thank u so much

I think all you need to do is use a darker tint/stain on the grain filler. That's where I would start to test.

Thanks for the quick reply! I'll definitely try that on some scrap pieces. Thanks!

Sure thing. Thinking back on it, yes, another thing to test is using a darker dye and sanding it back. Foam sanding sponges are great for the job. They "feather out" the pressure of your hand which makes it easy to control the color evenly. But! I wouldn't dye one color, let it dry, then dye another with Solar Lux (tried it, doesn't work well at all...). Just use a darker color, dilute it less, or apply 2-3 extra coats of dye to get it darker.

Old masters crimson red

Angelus medium brown.

That would be real Mahogany, modern "mahogany" as it gets called is generally Sapele (same family) garbage in looks with a classy name, We use it alot and 95% of the time its painted.

It's safe, yes, but you probably don't want to do so for other reasons. Sadly, it won't hold up very well to the hard life of a cutting board.

Wouldn't Redwood be a better choice for an outdoor application?

exilfromsanity Well, stand in front of a Redwood fence then take a look at an African Mahogany fence and you tell me which one looks 1000% better? Now, I instinctively said I want to stain it...that was a slip of the fingers. My concern is how long would Mahogany keep it's Mahogany beauty...if not long, then yes, Redwood would have to be my next choice.

Art Bowen How long the beauty will last is hard to answer. But I'll try to shed a little light. With exterior projects, understand two things. 1). The wood color will wash out thanks to sunshine 2). the wood will form surface checks/cracks thanks to expansion and contraction that come from the repeated exposure to rain/precipitation and the subsequent drying out. So how do you prevent those things? In short, the wood needs routine maintenance to keep looking satisfactory. How long between maintenance depends on the severity of exposure to elements and the point at which you'll be disappointed with the weathering and decide to undertake that maintenance. Because of that, my initial recommendation is to use an exterior oil finish (such as from Watco, or perhaps a decking finish) and plan on re-applying the oil twice a year (aka "maintenance"). It's about as easy as it gets because you don't need to strip finish or any of that jazz. Just sand a bit, and apply the oil. But marine spar varnish is another choice that'll last longer, and some will argue that it's a better choice. But it's more involved when it comes time to refinish, but fortunately that comes around less often than the oil. The third choice is paint; it is about the best protection you can get and lasts longer. But, yes, it's paint. You'll have to pick your poison because there is no silver bullet that help keep the wood looking good for very long that doesn't require routine effort.

No conditioner. You'd use a conditioner with an oil stain on a wood that accepts stain poorly. Mahogany is not one of those woods, and more importantly dyes apply very consistenty.

Wipe with Varsol, best way.Don"t use conditioner.you have to apply stain very quick .

Palani Vijaya )I