Charcoal on new wood

[John Greer]

I've seen some reference to using charcoal on new wood. I've just replaced around 2/3rds of the ribs on an old canoe and approx 1/3 - 1/2 of the planking. Planning to use transtint dyes rather than stain due to the amount of wood needing to match what's left of the old. Have never used the charcoal. Suggestions as to how this is done?

 

[Douglas Ingram]

Sounds difficult to control.

I'd go with the aniline dyes, get a selection, make some samples, varnish over them and compare to some old planking that is also varnished. You can only compare varnished wood to varnished wood, side by side, in natural day light.

 

[John Greer]

Thanks Doug. I was thinking of using the transtint rather than the aniline as a toner in my varnish rather than trying to dye/stain that much new wood. I was curious about the charcoal added to give the new wood some "old" wood dark spots. If I only had a few ribs I'd probably just go with a stain to match but in this case with half the canoe looking like new I'd like to closely match the old which is primarily located in each end of the canoe.

 

[Douglas Ingram]

You can adjust the density of the stain by a little selective sanding. Use a little coarser grit in spots, prior to staining, and the wood will take the stain darker. Sand a little in spots, after staining to take off some stain.

Experiment on scraps, and model your efforts after the old wood on the canoe.

Alternately, you can just keep replacing all the old planking with new and have it all match that way. You've done so much already!