mahogany relief needs light darkening

[buckbeans]

I have a landscape relief made from sapele ( almost like genuine mahogany in texture and color). It essentially a brick house, mesquite tree and an Australian Cattle dog sitting in from. Wood looks good but want to darkend the dog and the trunk of the tree. Any suggestions that does not take away too much from the original wood?

[telecarver]

It depends. how do you plan on finishing it?

[buckbeans]

don"t want the rest of the sapele to darken. What do you recommend?

[tmaddi]

I dont have as much finishing experience as some of the members, but since you are not getting a lot of responses I will tell you what I do with butternut to darken it just slightly without taking away the woods natural beauty. I mix Watco natural danish oil ,50/50 ,with Watco medium walnut danish oil. Gives the wood just a slight darkening and brings out the grain. Then I will seal with Deft satin laquer. Try on scrap first- hope this helps.............Tom

[AlArchie]

I can suggest two possible methods......well actually one with two different mediums.

A darker stain applied very carefully with an artist's brush....you'll have to experiment with the stain on some scrap to get the hue correct.

A second option would be to use a dark acrylic wash, applied just like a stain. Again you'll need to experiment on some scrap.

I've used both stain and wash and both work well...you might have a bit more control using a wash.

Al

[telecarver]

Originally Posted by buckbeans

don"t want the rest of the sapele to darken. What do you recommend?

You didn't say what you want the final finish to look like but one way to keep the wood lighter is to use a water base urethane. It will not darken the wood at all. The color will look as if there has been no finish applied. This may or may not be appealing but will keep the wood lighter. It can appear washed out looking if you were trying for that rich oil finish look. However, if you use an oil base product on genuine mahogany, it can get very dark. Do some test samples and let them dry fully before applying any finish to your carving. I usually start with lighter woods to avoid the too dark issue. I put on three coats of the urethane first so that the stain will not penetrate the end grain and appear blotchy. You can then stain the areas you want darker with a small brush. I use a water base stain so that I can keep a damp rag handy to wipe off excess stain. You can use this method in all of the recesses to highlight the details and leave more where you want the carving darker. Another option is sealing it with lacquer prior to staining. This will not be as light as the water base urethane but a little lighter that an oil or oil base urethane.

[buckbeans]

I think I will try the laquer with a little stain over it as per telecarver.
thanks to all who responded