Thread: I'm making a bed too.

Crunchie,

If you have some offcuts try on those. See if it matches then add stain till the desired result is obtained. BTW what shellac are you going to use as it will have a bearing on the result.

Originally Posted by The Bleeder

Crunchie,

If you have some offcuts try on those. See if it matches then add stain till the desired result is obtained. BTW what shellac are you going to use as it will have a bearing on the result.

I have only used Wattyl Traditional stains and the Cedar and their Red Maple aren't quite a match. I thought someone might know of a different range that they've had success with. I might try mixing the two and see if I can get the desired colour.
I intend to use Feast Watson orange shellac.

Hi Crunchie, stains & I just never seem to get along, so I always do my best to avoid them, & let time & oxidation do their stuff. I used to use a staining grain-filler for cedar that blended it nicly with old cedar, but haven't been able to get anything like it for years. I bought some grain filler recently that is supposed to be 'cedar', but it's way off. So I haaven't even used grain filler lately, just many more 'filler'coats. More work, but seems to give a greater depth & clarity to the finish.

The raw wood of your new bed looks pretty pale in the pic., but I think the wood on the drawers is a pretty pale colour for cedar, too. I'd try putting the intended finish on some scraps from the bed and see how it comes up - it might end up a closer match than the raw wood suggests.

I find it hard to predict where cedar will end up. I've just finished polishing the head on our new bed and as usual, I'm surprised by how much it darkened with the finish (orange flake shellac). I thought I had selected wood similar to that in the COD I built last year, but it looks to be a couple of shades darker, now it's done (in the shed - haven't stood it beside the COD, yet).

Sure wish I had spray equipment (& knew how to use it!) at times. A rubbed finish on fluted turnings is a masochist's delight.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Hi Crunchie, stains & I just never seem to get along, so I always do my best to avoid them, & let time & oxidation do their stuff.

The raw wood of your new bed looks pretty pale in the pic., but I think the wood on the drawers is a pretty pale colour for cedar, too. I'd try putting the intended finish on some scraps from the bed and see how it comes up - it might end up a closer match than the raw wood suggests.

Cheers,

Thanks IanW. As they say, "It's not often you're wrong, but I think you're right this time".
It is amazing how much darker the cedar has gone after a couple of days. I tried a few stains and added a couple of coats of shellac. Under the bedroom light one of the stains looks close but, as soon as I opened the curtains it was"miles off" . Meantime, my "control" seems to have darkened after a few coats of shellac and is gettingg closer by the day.

Ok Crunchie,

You've gone down the first path...It's difficulit to match. You got close but the sunlight let you down .

Now you can...

Try cleaning the Tallboy. It may not be that old but you'll be amazed by the crap that accumulates and the surface breakdown. Ubeaut has a great polish reviver so follow the instructions.

Make another sample just like the first.

Using the same cleaning methods do that to the first sample and then compare all three.

If it doesn't come closeer then you may just have to wear it until the bed 'catches up' to the tallboy.

Other than that, just don't let the sunshine in.....

Crunchie - I'm blowed if I know how to get things to be identical! Here's what I thought was going to happen. The cedar panels & stiles on the bed head have come up quite a bit darker than the 12 months finished COD to the left, even though they are parts of the same tree. They are pieces that were several metres apart in the tree, but still....

I'll take the lazy way and see what happens over a year or two. Either the woods will all mellow and even out a bit, or we'll just get used to it. It is wood, after all, so you've got to expect a bit of variation, I say......

Cheers,