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Gavel, Stain?

G

Glenn Wieczorek

Joined
Nov 5, 2020
Messages
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Location
Chicago, Illinois
Hello,
I made a gavel and block for a friend that is a judge. I made it out of some ash I milled last year. I used Behr Interior water based stain on the block and I don't like it. It is a bit blochy and really doesn't look that good so I haven't done anything to the gavel (head & handle). I thought about oil but I feel the color will be too light. I am looking for suggestions for a better alternative so if you have any ideas I would greatly appreciate your help.
Thanks Glenn
 
Watco Danish Oil comes with stains built in and I would say that the medium walnut would be suitable for an ash gavel. The gavel would need at least 3 applications: #1 flood the wood with the oil then let it sit for about an hour and use steel wool & the wet oil to remove the raised grain then wipe dry with paper towel or rag. Note the oil may bleed out to the surface so check occasionally and wipe it off since any oil that drys on the surface will get sticky. #2 About 2 days later go over with the steel wool, then repeat #1. #3 repeat #2.
The end grain areas will soak up the most oil and will get a dull dried look on step 1 & 2 & if that happens on step 3 go another step.
When the oil appears to have cured in the wood you can apply wax but beware of any wax that may dry to a white color that will show up in the open grain. Watco makes a product called dark satin wax that does an excellent job and is easy to buff.
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This Walnut cremation Urn is finished with Watco clear and the photo was taken in front of the red oak appliance garage in my kitchen finished with Watco Medium Walnut Danish oil and dark satin wax.
 
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I have thought about using black to fill the grain and then sanding it back, and then adding color to the gavel. In the end I decided against the color. I will keep this in mind for some other pieces I am working on. Thank you.
 
Glenn Wieczorek said:
I have thought about using black to fill the grain and then sanding it back, and then adding color to the gavel. In the end I decided against the color. I will keep this in mind for some other pieces I am working on. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Not sure about black either. Black with blue or white liming wax is a great look on some ash pieces might be too busy looking on the gavel.
 
Sounds like you needed to use a pre stain. End grain absorbs stain differently than side grain. Pre stain helps seal the end grain so the color is more even. It's hard to go back short of very deep sanding. Best to color it darker.
 
Richard thanks for the suggestion. I practiced the stain on several pieces of wood from the same tree. The stain looked different on the base than the practice pieces, I think it was due to the curves on the base. If I really don't like it I will simply turn another base as I have plenty of wood available and I can easily reproduce the base.
 
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