Finishing the Cabinet

[jgfore]

Iam about ready to start finishing my wall hanging cabinet. I am using GeneralFinishes - Ebony Dye. After applying this to a sample piece, I have noticedthat the pores of the Red Oak show up like a NEON SIGN. This is due to the dye,not being able to get into the deep pores. Even after several coats, the dye isnot going to penetrate. So, I have heard that on woods such as Red Oak andMahogany, it is sometimes needed to use grain filler. I have never used fillerbefore, but I can see why people use it on Red Oak. Even after sanding the HECKout of this cabinet, I can still fill every pore on the wood. After thisproject, I will probably stay away from Red Oak in the future for this reason.Anyway, is grain filler pretty much my only option here? Also, is the fillergoing to interfere with the dye?

Also:Is there something that I am doing to cause the wood to open the pores morethan it should be?

[Keggers]

Hello Jeff,

You might try using some wet/dry sandpaper while the wood is wet with your dye. The "slurry" from sanding your red oak while wet will probably help to fill the pores with your dye. At least it works that way when I'm using General Finishes wipe on poly.

[joestyles]

Dunno if the Dye will bind the dust into the pores. Marc has an old video about it somewhere. Here it is http://thewoodwhisperer.com/episode-3-refinishing-part-5/ hope this helps.

[Keggers]

Dunno if the Dye will bind the dust into the pores. Marc has an old video about it somewhere. Here it is http://thewoodwhisperer.com/episode-3-refinishing-part-5/ hope this helps.

I wasn't really talking about using this technique with the dye as a filler, so much as I was thinking that the dye soaked slurry would work down into the pores to help dye the deeper portions. I don't know if this would even work, but it's worth a shot.