It's possible the oil used in the stain or the finish on it has aged and darkened. This especially happens with shellac. You can achieve the color but not the dry look of the entire finish. Then how you go about duplicating the color would depend on the kind of wood you are finishing. With some species of wood which has very pronounced soft and hard grain if you just apply a dark stain it will end up with a very stripped look. You may need to put a thin sealer on the wood and use a gel stain to subdue this. A gel stain is closer to being paint than stain and will tend to cover up the grain of the wood.When I look at old European stains (approximately 1800's to 1950) I often notice a distinct difference. They often have a very dark and less translucent pigment. I attached a photo to demonstrate an example of what I generally mean. I want to replicate this on a piece of furniture I'm building but I really don't know what they were using. Does anyone have any information on what was used for this type of stain, or if nothing else, a modern product that comes close?
Thank you
Thanks for the info. The gel stains I've used in the past have still had a translucent quality to them, but I haven't applied them to a shellac base layer, and generally no more than 2 applications. How many applications of gel stain on top of shellac do you think would be necessary?It's possible the oil used in the stain or the finish on it has aged and darkened. This especially happens with shellac. You can achieve the color but not the dry look of the entire finish. Then how you go about duplicating the color would depend on the kind of wood you are finishing. With some species of wood which has very pronounced soft and hard grain if you just apply a dark stain it will end up with a very stripped look. You may need to put a thin sealer on the wood and use a gel stain to subdue this. A gel stain is closer to being paint than stain and will tend to cover up the grain of the wood.
If you wish to work with shellac use Zinsser Sealcoat. Standard shellac has a natural wax to it which would cause adhesion issues with the gel stain. The Sealcoat is shellac which has been refined more to remove the natural wax. You will still need to scuff sand it a little to cut the shine and it would also make the surface smoother for the stain. Personally I would rather spray the gel stain. That way you could use it for shading and apply as much as needed to achieve the look you want. Applying it by hand you have a greater chance of creating streaks from brush marks. After you have the stain color you like you can apply what ever topcoat you wish. I believe shellac is still only available in gloss. You would have to purchase an additive called shellac flat to alter the sheen. I believe the look you will want will be dead flat so that may take quite a bit of the flattening agent. The difference between a gloss finish and a flat finish is the amount of flattening agent it has. In dry form it looks like baby powder and floats to the surface as the finish is drying and interrupts the sheen. I would test the finishing procedure on scrap wood first before using it on a project. The scrap should be sanded and prepared just like the project in order to see the outcome.Thanks for the info. The gel stains I've used in the past have still had a translucent quality to them, but I haven't applied them to a shellac base layer, and generally no more than 2 applications. How many applications of gel stain on top of shellac do you think would be necessary?
