Compensating for poor color choice

[Steven Forrest]

Hi, all,
I am turning a bowl of beautiful spalted maple. There was enough degradation of the wood (I like a challenge) that it was difficult to get it truly smooth, between chipping and cracking, but I got pretty close. I eventually tried a coat of Old Masters paste wood filler. Because much of the bowl is light colored, I used a very light colored stain in the filler. You can see where this is headed, no doubt. I now have some fine but noticeable light colored streaks showing up against the black/brown of the spalting. There are already 2 coats of Mahoney's oil in place. Any suggestions on how I might darken the light streaks of filler? I tried using a super fine black Sharpie which does okay in terms of placing the color, but it ends up looking purple instead of black. I really can't stand the thought of ruining this with some stupid mistake, and I can't let it go. I need something I can apply precisely, that won't bleed, that won't draw attention to itself in terms of surface texture variation, and that can take a coat of Mahoney's and disappear. Any ideas? Thanks so much for any suggestions.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

do u have a picture to share

 

[Steven Forrest]

These photos show the slight purplish cast where I have done some inking with the sharpie, as well as the light streaking from the filler. Some cracks have the paste wood filler, some have Zar latex wood patch, some were filled with CA and sawdust - I don't know which is which, frankly. I believe the Zar and CA worked well in the lighter areas, but the paste filler is too light even for that. What I have found is that black camouflages itself- it just looks like more spalting, regardless of the background color. As may be apparent, this has been somewhat of a series of challenges...

 

[Charlie Knighton]

buy Zig calligraphy pen....they are non-bleeding.....they come in black but also other colors.....u might find purple is cool.....buy on amazon or some art stores......they have a fine point and a larger point

 

[Bill Boehme]

Can the wood be sanded down to a smooth surface? The first problem is applying the walnut oil finish before addressing the other issues. Also, the Old Masters wood grain filler is really for use as a grain filler on ring-porous hardwoods like ash or red oak to help get a smooth varnish finish. It isn't for patching. I also wouldn't apply an oil finish on wood where a grain filler has been used.

The Zar latex product looks like a patch because if you're a patch it's what you do. (Apologies to Geico). I've used it to repair painted millwork. I have also used to cover nail holes on baseboards and door frames, but no patching material is going to resemble the surrounding wood. The reason that the Sharpie isn't working well may be because of the oil on the wood.

I have tried mixing sanding dust with various types of glue and was always disappointed. I have had some good results using a mixture of CA and powdered coffee grounds. The important point is that you can't make fix blend into the wood unless you are very skilled. It is much easier to go for a contrast.

At this point I think it would be best to sand down to a clean smooth surface. Since the wood is slightly punky, I think that I would firm it up with a 50/50 blend of lacquer and lacquer thinner. Let it dry for a couple days and determine if another application is needed (not likely unless the wood is really punky). Sand smooth and apply a spray lacquer finish of your choice... gloss, semigloss, or matte.

 

[john lucas]

First don't draw on the lines, dot them on. Use a very fine black marker and just barely touch it where you want to extend a black area. Then add a few more dots leaving space between. Gradually fill in more dots until you achieve what you want. When you draw a line it often bleads into the area you don't want to touch. This is what I call the half tone method. Newspaper photos are all just black dots spaced closely to give you a dark color or black, far apart gives a very light gray or white. In the case of what you are doing you want to either extend the black that is already there or blend the light area into the surrounding wood color. By just barely touching dots to the wood you can control how much of each.
for spalting I have had pretty good luck with india ink drawing on some lines and then use the permanent markes to make those line edges kind of fuzzy. Best case is very careful application of an air brush but that takes lots of practice.

 

[Steven Forrest]

Thanks, guys. I think I will try the india ink/Zig pen first - lowest cost in time and money. If that doesn't work...sigh, well, I guess I can start over - again. Bill, I know this is bass-ackwards, and really appreciate your advice. The stuff that needs darkening is smooth, though. That's the thing - I was finally able to get it smooth, but I didn't realize what a distraction the light zones would be until after it was all finished. The Zar actually did well in the light punky zones. John, does the india ink fix, or does it want to bleed when in contact with finish? Thanks, again. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

 

[Steven Forrest]

PS - Does anyone have any experience with either Crystalac (clear) filler or Aquacoat clear filler (both available through Klingspor)? Thanks.