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We're close to having everything sanded but ran into this:[
The mahogany has bleached out at the top of the hatch to the point where I think we might have to stain and try and match the rest. Sections almost look as if it is two different pieces of wood but I don't think that true. Even tried shaving a small piece w/ a bolock plane w/ no real results.
Personally, I'd just leave as is and varnish. It only adds character.
I'm hypothesizing that this is a seat hatch/lazarette, and the darker part was hidden inside a gutter while the hatch was closed (=99% of the time). Hence the rest of the hatch was sun-bleached at a greater pace.
Last edited by FloatingMoneyPit on Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
This is the forward hatch and the bleached out section is the top edge where it gets direct sun.
I actually think the dark is stain- when I got to the fittings for the hinges and removed them the wood was the same blond color. I was just sanding hard on the wrong part..... When I sanded hard on the dark sections they lightened right up.
I hate to stain but I really like the deep color of the "old time " mahogany (which I think is extinct-at least for my budget). So I'll do some staining (actually Cindy does that) and hope the grain is still there.
Yes, stain is affected by UV, as is the color of the wood itself. Try refinishing a large piece where a corner was sitting in direct sunlight from a window for years and years. Same thing. That's when my artist wife came to our rescue by custom mixing stains to get what ever color we needed.
I think I'd sand the entire thing, then add an overall stain. Something like a "rich mahogany" would do - I doubt you'd want a "red" mahogany. You can get stains in little cans if you search around. Here's a trick- coarser paper when sanding will give a darker color to the stain, finer paper the opposite. You could sand the darker areas with something like 220 and the lighter wood with 100 grit, then stain- goes a long way to balancing the color. You have to play with it a bit of course. Might take 180 and 150 to acheive what you are after. On bare furniture, we commonly sand to 100 grit pre-stain for a darker stain, up to 180 or 220 for a lighter color. This is BEFORE the finish of course.
Here's a trick to see what the color will be (Approximately)- Wet out the area with lacquer thinner or mineral spirits. Whatever color and degree of darkness you see with the wood wet, will be fairly close to what it'll be with a standard varnish on it. Not exact, but close enough to judge.
I do a lot of cabinet alterations in the nav stations of 10-25 year old Hinckleys and Little Harbours. These people love to update their electronics, and do so often. The mahogany, teak and cherry of the interiors always seam to slightly redden (sp?) with age. I have found that a red mahogany stain diluted to about 10% strength does wonders to match the aged patina on the new pieces I add. It works well for all 3 woods. As stated by others there is all likelihood that the results won't stay that way over time, but a weak red stain may give you the result you are looking for initially at least.
Dave Finnegan
builder of Spindrift 9N #521 'Wingë'
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