Thread: tea leaves

If you google search these words - staining timber with tea - you will come up heaps of advice on using tea as a stain.

A lady at work use to always take the used tea leave from the huge tea pot in the staff room and swept her wood floor with them. The wet picked up the dust and enhanced the wood at the same time. She swore by it!

JD

I've tried tea leaves, coffee grinds, walnut husks and a few other things to stain timbers.

All in all, I've found that their effectiveness very much depends on the timbers used... some work fantastically well, others are pretty much a waste of effort.

So my advice boils down to: "Try it on a test piece first."

(I've also heard of soaking timber in tea leaves, then fuming with ammonia to darken any absorbed tannins. I've never tried this: sounds way too messy & complicated. I'd rather choose the right timber first!)

GB I would try it on an old scrap and see if you like the result, certainly worth the effort if the results work out.