Red oak fill and stain tips

[wogg]

Hey All, I've got solid red oak baffle boards to finish and have a few little blemishes to clear and would like some guidance on NOT making these look like my kitchen cabinets. Honestly I have no idea why I chose red oak, I was overwhelmed with choices and ended up with whatever was the appropriate width in the store selection of 5/4 boards. (Wood Werks in Columbus OH... fantastic store).

First the tear out stuff. Minor, but could use some fill. What should I use? I've got plastic wood that may work, but it has to not stand out too bad after stain and seal.



For stain, I want to take the red out and leave it light. I'm intending on playing with Minwax pickled oak and classic grey combined with some layers and sanding to build a deep grained look. Who's done something like that and may have some experience to share?

Also... grain fill or no? As you can see above there are quite a few classic oak pinholes in there.

[Billet]

I like to use red oak and I mostly just finish it with Howard's Orange Oil. The oil darkens it slightly and brings out the orange color. I've never tried a light stain on red oak. Varathane Classic Honey stain looks great, but it is medium dark. As for the tear out, I think it might stand out more if you try to fill it.

[a4eaudio]

Nothing worse than having the stained filler stand out like a sore thumb. (Okay, there are lots of things actually worse than that, but you know what I mean.)
I'd make several test pieces, cut or chisel out a little flaw deliberately, fill and stain and see what works best. Time consuming, but you'll be glad in the end.

[a4eaudio]

Also, I just used some Red Oak Wunderfill from Rockler and it worked great for what I was using it for - but it wasn't on actual Red Oak, and I was not using stain, I was using Boiled Linseed oil, polyurethane, mineral spirits, blend.

[djg]

Minwax sells color matched filler, looks like cherry would work, universally available.

[jhollander]

Do any filler after the stain so you can play around with the color.

If you are up for testing, you can use drywall compound as a grain filler. It was a bit to gray for me. Google ceruse finish to see some ideas.

[billfitzmaurice]

When I've bothered to fill oak I used a dark filler, sanding it so that it only remained in the grain. That makes the grain really pop. When I didn't want the grain to pop I didn't use filler, I just varnished or oiled and sanded. With water based urethane you can put on at least six coats in a day, which is usually enough to fill the grain. Sand it down the following day and hit it with a few more coats before rubbing it out. If you want it to remain light don't use any stain, any color will make it darker.

[rkeman]

That area of tear out is significant and filling it will be difficult. A black oak finish eliminates the need for grain fill and would allow the defect repair to be more easily achieved. Another option would be a rosewood finish using black grain filler and an oil based gel stain.

[wogg]

Thank guys! Keep 'em coming.

Here's what I've been peeping for stain examples on red oak. The pickled and classic grey combo would look pretty cool on the front of a white cabinet in my opinion. Lots of stains for red oak since it's such a common hard wood floor choice.



I'm definitely going to do some testing on the spare board before digging into the real thing. I bought enough length to do a whole 3rd baffle in case I seriously screwed up one

[billfitzmaurice]

Do the testing on the inside.

[davidroberts]

With a little patience and a fine tip Sharpie you can hide the filler.

[jhollander]

The last post in my pencil tower link in my signature line has some grain filling tips

[wogg]

Neat! That's a throwback from 2012, checking it out now.

[ohio buck]

As a teenager I used Mahogany, Red Oak, and Walnut to make speaker cabinets. I used a product named "Paragon Paste Filler" to take care of problem areas or fill coarse grains. You might want to check into that. Best of luck!

[augerpro]

My floors are red oak, originally in that disgusting "honey oak" finish. I had them refinished, don't remember what the finish was, but it was "Dark Walnut" colored and the floor looks fantastic. Dark-ish, but also the different grain patterns really pop out. I'll try to get a pic today.