Acrylic Stain Then Oil Finish?

[redsquid2]

If I apply acrylic stain to a wood handle, then give the acrylic time to dry, then apply tung oil finish, will that work, or will the acrylic vs. oil be incompatible?

Thanks,

squid

 

[Mahoney]

Maybe...maybe not...In my experience going from water-based to oil-based or vice-versa can cause problems. At minimum the tung oil won't sink into the surface of the wood the way it will on raw wood... The best way to be sure it will or won't work is to test your finish on a piece of wood from the same board the handle will be made of. Do your test exactly the same way you plan to treat the handle, same drying times, same amount of finish, etc. If it works don't make any changes to the process when you do the handle, it's amazing how small a change will sometimes yield an unpleasant surprise.

 

[redsquid2]

An update: I am in the middle of an experiment.

Here is what I did: I took acrylic artist color in cadmium yellow medium. I squeezed a little bit out of the tube, into a dixie cup. Then I added 2 parts water for the one part paint, and mixed it thoroughly. I then rubbed my homemade "stain" into the wood as best I could with my finger. Now I just wait 48 hours, rub off the whiskers with steel wool, and apply Tru Oil.

I have used this exact same homemade stain on hard maple in the past, and I liked the color. I experimented with different colors, and found that cadmium yellow was the only one that produced a good color. Back then, I was clearing over with water-based clear. This time, I am going to try Tru Oil and see what happens.

I will return and report.

--squid

 

[redsquid2]

The result of my experiment isn't very encouraging. I rubbed the acrylic stain in carefully, to create consistent coloring across the sample piece. Then I allowed it to dry for 24 hours, removed the whiskers, and rubbed tru oil on it. I rubbed the Tru Oil vigorously, to really press it into the grain.

It just didn't work. I guess the rubbing action with the Tru Oil forced the pigments to move around. The result was uneven coloring.