# Finish Problem



## Rolf Maxa (Feb 8, 2005)

I made a dining room table out of solid walnut for my daughter. She now wants it to look like mahogany. If I had known she wanted a mahogany finish I would have made it out of that wood. So my problem is how do I make a dark wood like walnut look like mahogany. Any help would be appreciated.:'(


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## chippypah (Dec 24, 2007)

Ouch, why change a great table into something else ?. It is like makeing pine look like hardwood, but if you have to then a spirit dye may work worth trying on a scrap.
Cheers
Pete


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## jerrymayfield (Sep 25, 2004)

This seems like a waste but, if you could get her to wait about 20 years or so the walnut will get lighter in color. Since we all know that isn't going to happen the only way I am aware of to make a dark wood less dark is by bleaching the natural color out and then coloring it. You can not make a dark color lighter(in color) by adding a stain. Although paint would work. I wish there was a simple solution but, none that I know of.

Regards

Jerry


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## Rolf Maxa (Feb 8, 2005)

Thanks for your input, I'm going to try a mahogany dye on a sample. See if it will get her to point that she can live with.

Thanks


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

That should work. It will be a very dark finish but with the redish tint she likes. I used this on a waterbed headboard I repaired. The factory paneling was smashed in shipping and I cut tongue and groove boards to cover the opening. I stained them with an american walnut stain to darken them and then a mahogany stain for the redish tint. It came out a very deep color and it was easy to stain the rest of the frame to match. This bed sold as soon as it went on the showroom floor, so perhaps your daughter will like the results as well. Good luck.


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## rvbuild (Nov 19, 2008)

If you have a piece of scrap walnut, first bleach it with wood bleach. I've used a combination of (first) a coat of Minwax red mahagony stain, then followed by Cabot Red Mahogany. Minwax is more brown, Cabot is a rather intense red. Careful with the Cabot stain, it seems to setup rather quickly. I usually need to rub it off with burlap.
Tragic about ruining beautiful walnut.

Ron V.


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