How to stain a victorian pine table

[Dianne]

Hi all, looking for some advice please.

We have a Victorian pine dining table which when we purchased from an antique dealer was a beautiful pale gold waxed pine. Over the years it got marked as you would expect and we asked a local French polisher to restore it! Bad move it came back dark, streaky and unslightly. We've sanded it back ourselves but we have no idea what type of stain or wax to put on it to bring it back to that nice golden colour.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Dianne

 

[MikeG]

What a shame. If you've sanded enough to remove the damage done by the person who changed the colour, you've essentially removed 100+ years of history and given yourself a new piece of wood to work with. There are umpteen ways of getting pine to the colour you want, depending on the finish you want. These vary from complex two part lacquers, through stain-and-varnish regimes, to coloured waxes, or oils. You said it was waxy before, so just buy yourselves a few tins of wax and start rubbing. You should try these out for colour on a hidden part of the table, like on the underside of the table top.

For more authenticity, leave it bare and wash it down every day for the next 20 or 30 years with soap and water.

 

[plasticpigeon]

Caustic soda will turn it yellowy/biscuit coloured and make it look old. Try it on a scrap piece of pine if you decide to try it. could just wax after that. Any solvent ased varnish will make it look a bit darker as it sinks into the wood.

 

[eezageeza]

Danish oil will give you a nice golden finish, and will be more durable than wax (which will need reapplying quite frequently).

 

[MikeG]

Respectfully, Danish Oil is mainly a varnish*, and it goes a nasty stale-urine colour in a year or two. You'll be back to square one in no time.

*It is an oil with high levels of dissolved solids, which is why it forms a crust on the surface of the wood like a thinned varnish.

 

[eezageeza]

Respectfully, Danish Oil is mainly a varnish*, and it goes a nasty stale-urine colour in a year or two. You'll be back to square one in no time.

*It is an oil with high levels of dissolved solids, which is why it forms a crust on the surface of the wood like a thinned varnish.

That's not been my experience - we've had it on a pine kitchen table for maybe 15 years where it still looks good as new, and on kitchen worktops for about 5 years where it has also retained its looks, and withstood all sorts of spills and cleaning fluids.

And how do you know what colour stale urine is anyway!?

 

[Dianne]

Thanks for the replies. I'll get a picture of the bureau we need the table to tone in with to give a better idea of the colour we are after.

 

[livias]

Have to agree with Mike
I used copious olive oil on the worktops in one kitchen which was lovely and mellow. Then I was told it could go rancid, though mine didn't ... so used danish oil on the next kitchen. It has left the wood with a crispy slightly shiny finish totally unlike how wood should be, so I won't do that again. I can't comment on the stale urine effect as yet but I would think it depends on how dark the timber is. Ours is cherrywood and a lovely rich pinky tone which would hide urine stain beautifully

And goes very well with the tiles Malcolm

 

[noj]

I used pure tung oil on some sycamore and it's a lovely finish that's absorbed by the wood, more durable than olive oil and food safe (unlike most Danish oil). I did both sides and there's now a vast difference between the side that's permanently exposed to the light and the paler side that isn't

Over time all pine darkens (and quite a lot in the first few years after being exposed) so there's always a risk if you stain it down to the 'perfect' colour now it'll fairly rapidly turn into a darker tone than you want.

 

[88v8]

About, errrm, 35 years ago I remade our pine Viccy kitchen table, making a top out of some wide old pine planks.
The whole table just got a couple of coats of Briwax (sorry Toby) which has never been refreshed. We eat at that table once or twice every day, sometimes it gets scratched but seems to self-heal.
Colour is nice and mellow.

Elsewhere, did also have some flirtations with Danish Oil. Again, the result depends on the wood, absorbency, number of coats.

I guess it depends to a large extent on the wood. Perhaps take the top off the table, prepare it to the same standard as the upper side, and try some options on test squares of the underside.

Ivor