Mission Style Finish Recipe

My computer desk

I'm really attracted to the Mission Style finish. The character of the wood is really highlighted by this stain treatment. I use quarter-sawn white oak, the traditional wood used in mission style furniture. Cutting wood quarter-sawn reveals an immense pattern of rays and flakes in oak. Their undulating pattern is accentuated by a pigment stain. An additional dye stain gives the wood your desired shade of brown. Traditionally, staining the wood was performed by exposing it to strong ammonia fumes. I tried this once and became the least favorite member of the family.

Over many years, I have created a multiple step process that works reliably. As I have said in previous posts, I tend to use veneer. It is much more affordable and available than solid wood. I purchase my veneer online from Certainly Wood.

Here are the steps and an explanation of why are done.

1. Sand the wood surface until you reach 180 grit. There is no reason to go finer.
2. The pattern in the wood is highlighted by creating contrast between the grain and the wood surface. I use a Mahogany colored Minwax Gel Stain to embed a dark pigment in the grain. Use a disposable glove and spread clumps of stain on the wood. Almost immediately, take paper towels and remove the excess stain on the wood surface by wiping across the grain. This leaves the pigment in the grain and leaves the wood surface almost the same color as what you started with.
3. Let the gel stain dry for 8 hours or until it's solvent can't be smelled.
4. Preferably using an orbital sander, use 220 grit sandpaper to remove the stain color from the wood surface. The pigment stain will remain in the grain which is below the surface. You want to color the surface with the water-based dye stain. I like to use Homestead's TransTint. They have many brown shades located here.
5. Apply a dye stain either by spraying or wiping it on the surface. Spraying is faster but I've wiped it on for many years. I pore a little on and spread it lightly with a 3M maroon colored Scotch-brite pad. You want the get the surface universally wet with thin film of dye. Let the dye dry without wiping it off. This will give it a uniform appearance, as long as you didn't leave puddles of dye liquid on the wood.
6. The dye usually drys within a hour. Spray it with Bulls Eye Clear Shellac to protect the dye from later steps.
7. After the shellac drys (usually in minutes), feel the surface for smoothness. Sometimes the water in the dye will raise the wood fibers. Lightly sand them off using a maroon pad. Don't bare down which may remove the stain.
8. Now you are ready for a finish to protect the wood and the stain. The shellac you applied will protect the stains from most finish treatments. I like to use a water-based satin finish. The satin sheen lowers any glare from light reflecting from the wood surface which obscures the grain. I use Minwax Polycrylic Satin Finish. I'll spray Polycrylic deluded 10% with distilled water. Deluding it makes it easier to spray. Let it dry for several hours and feel if the surface is smooth. If so, spray it one more time and you are done. If its a little rough, wait overnight and sand the surface lightly with 220 grit sandpaper, just enough to remove the rough spots. Spray it again, and then you are done.

I'm sure this seems like many steps but the end product is worth the effort.