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John Daugherty

John Daugherty

Member
Messages
1,939
Location
Oliver Springs, TN
My niece opened a clothing store in the next town over and asked me if I could make a counter for her register and such. I couldn't say no. The top is white oak. It was a rush job, so I bought the top and finished it myshelf. The top has a grayish color. It ended up being a nightmare to color. I can't recommend Varathane weathered wood accelerator!



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John Daugherty said:
...The top has a grayish color. It ended up being a nightmare to color. I can't recommend Varathane weathered wood accelerator!
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Came our nice overall. Oughtta be very functional for your niece.

I don't care much for the top's color either. The 'accelerator' must be a soda-based product to give the grayish tones. What finish did you put over it?
 
The finish was the problem Jim. I had a cut off piece I was testing on. Luckily I had taped it off in sections. The directions said to put a coat of Watco lacquer over the accelerator. When I did it turned a dark brown, no gray at all! I thought well shellac might work....nope brown. Then I started to worry. I tried poly....brown. Out of desperation I had some hard wax oil laying around and tried that on a spot. It didn't completely turn brown with this, but it wasn't as gray as she wanted. I tinted the hard wax oil by mixing white and black mioxol to get a gray color. It worked and she was happy with the color. I won't be using the accelerator again! I was going to stain it gray to start with but the stain muddied the grain really bad. I got the accelerator about a year ago at HD on clearance for like 2 bucks. I should have tried it on something else first........lesson learned.
 
Hey, I think it looks great, and more importantly...

“It worked and she was happy with the color.”

... not much more you can ask for.
well done, and I wish your niece all the success in her new venture.
 
John Daugherty said:
It worked and she was happy with the color. I won't be using the accelerator again! I was going to stain it gray to start with but the stain muddied the grain really bad.
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Quite the adventure in finishing, IMHO I think it looks quite nice and the hint of brown tones left compliment the grey aged look. Might not be exactly what you started out shooting for but nice it worked out in the end!
 
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