Black stain for wooden furniture?

Question

I have bought 2 large bedside chest of draws, they are stained a red colour, I want to refinish them in a very dark stain, possibly black, I vaguely remember knowing about a black stain, but cant remember the name, j*p black?? rings a bell...any help would be very much appreciated.

P.S. they are solid timber...how much rubbing back would i need to do?

Answer 1

Sherwin Williams has a black paint, not a stain, that works well on furniture.  It is "lamp black" and is a very dulled, matte finish, not shiny (sort of like a wrought iron lamp).  Depending on the look you want, you could simply paint over the red--maybe rub it a bit so that the red shows through.  Or buy primer--have them tint it with some black--prime the furniture and then paint. You will need 2 coats.  If you want to do stain, I would look for an "espresso" color stain--that is very dark brown, but looks black when applied.  They have it in various brands at Sherwin Williams, Home Depot, Lowe's ...

Answer 2

The stain is called "Ebony". I think Wattle, Carbots and Dulux make it.  Check out the furniture stain area of your local hardware like bunnings, kmart or mitre 10.

But this only changes the colour  of the wood, it doesnt give it a finish. You will still need to give it a coat of estapol after the stain has been applied and rubbed off.

If its in fairly good condition you wont need to sand it back much.

Also, it depends if you mind the red stain coming through and making the ebony stain slightly darker If you dont mind a red tint to the black then you only need to give it a light sanding (with super fine sanding paper 220-240 grit) to take the estapol off.

If you dont want it tainted by the red much you need to use a slightly courser sanding paper (extra fine 280-320) to take off the estapol and the most of the previous stain. And then finish off with a super fine (360-600+) sand paper then stain it with ebony let it dry and then coat with estapol.

Just a note some people use stain and estapol together, this is easier to sand off and only needs a light sanding (with extra fine sand paper 280-320).

Tip combining the stain and estapol can make the estapol murky and may cloud the finish so you cannot see the wood grain under neath as well.

Good luck