Home made toner

[TennesseeYankee]

I need to make a toner to match the top of a dresser with it's sides.

I have the tints.....now what do i use as the medium? Shellac? Lacquer? Urethane?

And what is a good ratio to thin it out to?

Thanks

[PaulMarcel]

So the piece is already stained, but you want to add shading or just nudge the color a certain direction? Dunno what the finish is on the existing piece, but if it is shellac, using shellac or lacquer will burn into the shellac a bit (pretty certain the lacquer thinner in lacquer will burn into shellac, but that may be dependent on the lacquer). That said, your 'toner' will become part of the finish. Otherwise, I've toned mostly with shellac. I like it because I can wipe off any excess with DNA. For me, I mixed 50/50 SealCoat/DNA along with the dyes.

[HoboMonk]

More information needed...

[Gregory Paolini]

I need to make a toner to match the top of a dresser with it's sides.

I have the tints.....now what do i use as the medium? Shellac? Lacquer? Urethane?

And what is a good ratio to thin it out to?

Thanks

Not all tints are universal - A true UTC will work with just about anything, but Transtints will not work with oils - Just WB, or Shellac's.

To be a true toner, you'll want to spray it on as well - That could affect your chioces.

There's a lot of variables here in order to provide a definative answer.

-gp

[TennesseeYankee]

As a clarification, I already have the main coloring on the wood. I just need to nudge it towards the correct color to match the sides. I used transtint in American General's Polyacrylic. I know that I could use a gel stain, which would allow me to nudge some areas heavier and wipe off areas that I would need it to be lighter, the problem is that I am not sure if there is a base, non-colored gel stain that I could add my tint to it.

It also sounds like I have to spray this on, if it is to be a true toner. I guess I don't care what it is called, I just want to get the end result right.

[PaulMarcel]

Gregory was correct that I assumed spraying, which was a bad assumption!

You don't need to spray. If you are using dyes, you can add dye to the finish and apply a coat where needed to set the color

I think you mean General Finishes Polycrylic. I like that stuff. Flows out nicely with a staining pad and tough as nails. Get a rag or staining pad (HF has great terry-cloth wrapped stain pads for cheap and they're my favorite). Get it wet, wring it out, let it dry a bit. You want it humid/slightly damp. Color some Polycrylic and wipe it on. Eventually the pad will have a charge of dyed finish, but not enough to lay down a film. At that point, wiping more will remove successively more and more of the Dye. You'll get it toned without too much problem that way. Remember that what it looks like wet is what it will look like finished. If it starts to dry, it will look dull and you'll be tempted to apply more there.

You can thin Polycrilic so read the can to see by how much; water-based finishes can't be infinitely thinned like solvent-based.

[Justin57]

..... Get a rag or staining pad (HF has great terry-cloth wrapped stain pads for cheap and they're my favorite).

Paul, Do you have a link for these? I've done several searches at Harbor Freight to no avail

[PaulMarcel]

Paul, Do you have a link for these? I've done several searches at Harbor Freight to no avail

Yeah, no kidding... couldn't find it either! But as dumb a topic as it could be, I made a brief blog entry about liking them and included a picture so I got the part number from the picture

#46166 but there's no picture on the site as it is in-store only. Look at my blog entry for the photo to know what to look for. Just $3! Really, though, they rock.