Color the Grain (dye/pigment/stain) Mahogany


Dashboy67

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Hi All,

I'm new here and have a small project of now finishing my solid body guitar which is Mahogany and the neck is Maple.

Starting with the Mahogany body, I want to pop the grain with a dark color while not coloring the rest of the body. I might color the body to a light brown but the grain will be darker.

How can I uptown this? Note: I do not want to fill the grain, I want a natural porous look after final finishing. 

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You want the pores of the grain to be darker, so as to stand out? I would suggest a light coat of shellac to seal the wood fibers, then a coat of darker stain, perhaps a gel stain. After that dries, sand it back to remove the stain from the surface, but leave it in the pores. Then proceed with your top coat. Although the gel stain is staying in the pores, it won't fill them enough to affect the texture.

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You can use dye with your first coat of finish and sand back before applying the remainder coats of finish. TransTint dye is a great product for this. 

A lot of people also grain fill mahogany with a dark color for a more vintage look.  

Make sure to do some test pieces first with whatever you choose to do!

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Nope, no shellac, no gel stains. No sealing the wood, thats the OPPOSITE of what he wants. Using stains and dyes on mahogany is wonderful. But its such an absorbent wood, getting the layer of color off will be a nightmare.

 

This is akin to a dog hair finish on walnut. The best way I've found is with epoxy, but some people use some junk called timber mate (I jest, I just prefer epoxy). Since you're sounding "unsure" timbermate will be my recommendation. You will mix in a black pigment or dye into the timbermate, and you use a spatula and press it into the pores and getting it smooth all over. Let it dry, and use a SANDING BLOCK and sand it down to where the surface is free of timbermate. (This is that "grain filling with dark colors" janello was mentioning)
 

Be warned, until you clear coat it, it looks a bit under whelming.

 

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2 hours ago, Dashboy67 said:

 

@Bob493

i do not want to fill the grain, I want to see the grain in the natural state of mahogany with it colored dark to accent it. 

What your describing IS grain filling. There's no other way to do it. Mahogany absorbs dyes too well and the stain and sand back method doesn't work. 

 

I've been building guitars a long time. How I said it is how it's done. You're obviously welcome to explore other avenues, and I won't stop you from wasting your time. 

If this is what you're going for, this is grain filling.

Http://images.lilypix.com/albums/userpics/10152/normal_Grain_Filler_picture.jpg

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Hi, why would you suggest a gel stain?

Would this be a pigment stain? 

Dashboy, I am offering suggestions based on my limited experience doing this on woods OTHER than mahogany, so a grain of salt is in order. So is a test piece.

I suggested a sealer coat because you indicated that you did not want the full surface darkened, only the grain pores. Others have suggested that mahogany is very absorbent, so perhaps this won't work very well.

I also suggested a gel type stain, rather than a liquid stain, because it will act more like a filler, but without completely filling in the texture, which is what I assume you want.

Taking the other comments to heart, I think they are correct. Mahogany pores are not extremely large / deep, so if you try to seal the surface, you will mostly fill the pores with the sealer. Just use the colored pore filler as suggested above, as it appears to be the accepted practice for this application.

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Thank you all, I really do appreciate the suggestions and experienced you offer. 

I have no photos only an idea that a darkened grain (not filled) would show the mahogany wood for what it really is. 

I am sourcing test samples and will let you know how it goes.  

Cheers 

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8 hours ago, Dashboy67 said:

Thank you all, I really do appreciate the suggestions and experienced you offer. 

I have no photos only an idea that a darkened grain (not filled) would show the mahogany wood for what it really is. 

I am sourcing test samples and will let you know how it goes.  

Cheers 

The a look at the woodwhisperer console gaming table and weekend wall shelf.  He uses mahogany with a simple arm r seal finish.  It will give you an idea of what a varnish finish will look like.  

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You really should try to find an image of what you're thinking about. To be completely blunt, what you're asking for isn't making a lot of sense.

 

you can't do this with mahogany.

3dsandback.jpg.76fa229fd60ee7c0077d62e08

 

If you try to stain/dye mahogany and do the sand back thing, it really doesn't work. Mahogany looks VERY plain until you put some finish on it. This is a guitar body im working on that just has some water wiped on top of it.

 

 

 

 

20160430_232932.jpg

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