Matching putty color to stained wood
woodmeistera1
| Posted in General Discussion on
Recently I was preparing to varnish some woodwork with a ‘Red Oak’ stain. After sealing I wanted to fill the nail holes with colored oil base putty prior to final coating. There were only a few color choices available of the colored putty and none really matched my stain color. On some earlier finishing projects I had discovered artist oils available at art supply stores. They come in squeeze tubes and have the consistency of soft cream cheese and are very concentrated. I blended some oil called Burnt Sienna with the red mahogany putty I had and the color matched exactly. After the final varnish coat the nail holes virtually disappeard.
Replies
If you're talking about the small jar soft putties, you can combine them, kneeding them in your hand to get a closer match. Often there's different tones in the stained wood that require different darkness fill, easy to do with the above. I remember an old finisher that would color glazing compound with oil pigments. He could make anything disappear.
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Calvin,
I considered mixing putties together but there weren't any with enough deep brownish-red to match my stain. As to the reply about the possiblilty of the putty getting hard and cracking I think if it is good enough for Rembrandt it's good enough for me. And thanks for the welcome.
Woodmeistera1
ya read it upside down or dyslexic. You want the stuff dry . . .
Rembrandt didnt use artist oils anyway. They mixed their own from dry pigments.Real trucks dont have sparkplugs
Just get a variety of color putty jars and mix whatever you need for whatever you're working on. I wouldnt use the artist oils. The linseed in there can make the finish spot over the hole. Varnish may have saved you from that, but lacquer would make you unhappy. Its better yet to ensure that the putty is dry enough to mix it with whiting until it starts to just get crumbly.
Real trucks dont have sparkplugs
There is a product called FastCap Soft Wax filler system. Easy to mix and match colors, lasts forever, and reasonably priced too.
I got mine at Louis and Co. However, it should be available at any plastic laminate distributor in your area.
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