Ochre

[Darius Ferlas]

Some time ago I saw, then recently finished, table made out of cherry. The author (I lost track of him) of the table said he used red ochre, poly and possibly linseed oil. At the time I didn't pay attention to the recipe and I forgot it. The finish had a very subtle reddish/rusty hint to it, and the grain showed through very distinctly.

Have any of the forum members any experience in working with ochre. I'd appreciate any tips.

Thanks.

[Steve Schoene]

Ochre is just an earth pigment--more usually seen as yellow ochre but red, and brown also are found. But, as a natural ingredient, you will find a fairly wide range of colors--all called red ochre of some sort. www.kremerpigment.com will show the range of the pigments available. Nothing paticularly special as an ingredient. If you use only a little pigment in a stain you will only get a subtle effect. Personally, I prefer cherry either natural, or enhanced by a subtle dye (yellow perhaps) with a relatively light stain--which might or might not contain a red ochre. My guess is that the run of the mill stains will use similar colors but with synthetic pigments if cheaper.

[Scott Holmes]

Staining and dying cherry should be reconsidered...

Any pigment will hide the grain a bit...

As for cherry - BLO will pop the grain and darken it a bit I like garnet shellac on cherry.

I know of no wood that adds patina, faster or more beautifully than cherry...

My advice --- skip the dye and the stain.

[Darius Ferlas]

So far I have not used any pigments on cherry and while I like the result swmbo is not convinced. The results of red ochre that I saw were only adding to the aged look of the cherry pieces I saw. The hiding of the grain, if any, was very scant and the pieces, such as table top, looked fantastic. Even the author of the pieces pointed out that he was not into changing the natural beauty of cherry and his only prerogative in using the ochre mixture was only to accelerate the aging of the wood. From what I saw e achieved exactly that.

Thanks for the responses.