Staining Bluegum to tone down Red tones

Hi there,
Keen to get some advice on a project which is nearing completion. I have a coffee table I've built out of Bluegum. It's 40mm thick timber, and i've got two waterfall ends which are joined using oversized Box Joints. That part is great.

The question is, I'm keen to tone down the Red a little, and was thinking of using a Stain, perhaps Walnut, to make it look a little more....walnuty!

Would I need to use a Wood conditioner on this before staining? Especially as I don't want the endgrain on the joints to go super dark compared to the rest of the table.

Also, I'm looking to use Osmo Polyx Satin over the top which I've used on my kitchen counter tops and looks great! Any 'gotchas' or things to consider with the staining part that could be impacted by the Osmo Polyx? I could also use a water based poly, but preference is for the Osmo at this stage.

Main thing I'm after is a consistent colour, and no impact on the grain showing through.

Cheers

Seb

Hi Seb,
To hide the red you will make it quite dark. OK if that's the look you want but I think the reds are the charm in that timber. The red colour will brown off as it ages with exposure to UV so it will get darker in time. I take it by stain you are talking about wipe on stuff that soakes into the wood and not the tinted topcoat. If so just go easy near the box joints and not give then as much. As always with finishing do a couple of practice runs on the offcuts to see what you get.
Regards
John

If you want to make a red timber go brown you need to cancel out the red by staining with a Black / Green mix . You mix it strong enough to just kill out the red and keep it as light as possible . Not send it Black / green looking . The Green is added in such a small amount that you dont see green at all . Its a balancing act between the wood and your stains . The more stain you apply the darker it gets at the same time as killing the red.
Having a wide range of colours to choose from in the workshop is good or see if you can find a stain that has these properties .
Or find a straight Black and a green that can be combined .

Try these maybe and read about the wetting down . That's important with water stains.

U-Beaut Polishes - NON TOXIC WATER DYES

Ive not used these water stains and have Green and Black spirit stains on my shelf to use . Powders I mix with Metho

Rob

The red will fade, it will go chocolate brown, if you start colouring it now it will finish much darker.

Great ideas. I'll have a play over the weekend with some of the offcuts before doing anything drastic. If it will eventually fade to a more chocolate colour, then in fact, i may just leave it with a few coats of the Osmo Polyx and call it a day!