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PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 7:00 pm 
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Mahogany
Mahogany

Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2018 2:51 pm
Posts: 77
I applied a couple of coats of tru oil to the mahogany neck but it’s a lot lighter ( natural ) in color than I would like. What is the preferred method and or product that should be used to color the mahogany a medium dark color?


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PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 7:53 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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Joined: Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:20 am
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Potassium permanganate is an oxidizer that will darken mahogany (and many other woods). It can be found at some pool supply places.


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PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 8:21 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2010 1:46 pm
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First name: Freeman
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Every time I use a mahogany neck with rosewood I stain it to be a close match. I use StewMac Colortone dyes dissolved in alcohol. Some pore fillers will color the wood also.

Attachment:
IMG_2882.JPG


I wanted to match this neck to a cocobolo body

Attachment:
IMG_4021.JPG


Attachment:
IMG_4378.JPG


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 09, 2019 1:42 am 
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Contributing Member
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First name: Jay
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That color match to the cocobolo looks great.

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 8:06 pm 
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First name: John
Last Name: Arnold
City: Newport
State: TN
Zip/Postal Code: 37821
Country: USA
Focus: Repair
Status: Professional
Brown mahogany aniline dye, mostly.

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PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2019 8:24 am 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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Well now that it has oil on it your options are limited unless you sand back to bare wood. I always match mine with dye stain before I apply finish.

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PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2019 11:17 am 
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Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood

Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2007 3:21 pm
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Location: Alexandria MN
For TruOil I have had good luck with a technique Addam Stark told me about quite a while back. Actually polish the wood going through grits up to 600 and then Micromesh.
After that wipe on a dark colored oil based pore filler. I thin it to kind of a thick cream consistently and apply in sections with a foam brush and immediately wipe off with a cotton rag or blue shop cloth. It stains the wood nicely and seems to adequately fill the pores for a TruOil finish. It dries smooth and usually no further prep is needed before the oil application

I have used the Chemcraft stuff LMI sells. Here is a neck refinish I am doing now on an old LaPrinzi. It was sanded back to bare Mahogany. I used the Walnut on this one and it gave a nice color

Image

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These users thanked the author Terence Kennedy for the post: Pmaj7 (Tue Feb 12, 2019 2:12 pm)
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 14, 2019 2:33 pm 
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First name: Tim
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Like John Arnold, I usually use aniline dye. I use the type that's mixed with water. The neck shown below is dyed with Constantine's "brown mahogany" with a little Lockwood "red mahogany." Possibly this will work over a couple of coats of Tru-Oil (more on this in the last paragraph). Aniline is much more fade resistant than many dyes, but will the color will fade a bit if put in a bright sunny window for an extended period. The mahogany will darken a bit with age as that's happening; maybe that compensates.

I've stained unsealed wood by applying oil-based pore filler. As shown in Terence's photo, this works well and gives a nice even look. As Mr. Guthrie alludes to in another thread, some think this look is "muddy" because it isn't as transparent as a dye. I understand Martin used this method to color mahogany necks and it is regarded as traditional. I have a D-35 with a semi-opaque neck finish and I notice that it puts the color of the neck in the background and foregrounds the striking color of the BRW back and sides. But for guitars I make I prefer a clearer look.

A dilute solution of household lye dyes mahogany medium-dark reddish brown, and the color doesn't fade. I'm thinking of trying this. If you trust yourself to use drain cleaner and oven cleaner, I think you can use dilute dye to stain wood. (Tips: use gloves, and don't drink it.)

If you use water-based aniline dye or lye in water, you need to raise the grain first with water and sand it back down, twice, and then seal with a 1 lb cut (very dilute) solution of shellac. Otherwise the end grain of the heel will get darker than the rest of the neck. Tru-Oil is a very dilute varnish, and--if you haven't already sanded it off--just 2 coats might function like a thin coat of shellac and allow the wood to absorb dye, and absorb it more evenly. If you have any mahogany scraps to test it on, it would be worth a try.


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PostPosted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 3:34 pm 
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Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:43 am
Posts: 310
Location: N.B. Canada
Have you tried using Winton oil colors with your Truoil? They are based solely in Linseed oil so a little dab in your finish will color your neck nicely. I used it for a neck and it worked great.

I got the idea here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCMNqL5laEg

I bought my tube at Michael's.

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