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Antique light mahogany finish.

Mahogany wood is very popular in the wood furniture industry. Many furniture products in various types and items are made from mahogany wood. With the right model and finishing, mahogany wood can produce very interesting furniture products. Mahogany wood is usually finished in the dark brown or reddish brown color, according to its basic color. The basic red-brown color of the mahogany wood makes it quite difficult to produce a light finishing color.



finishing step panel for antique brown mahogany

The finishing process is as follows:
  • Bleaching
To produce the light color from the dark wood, we have to lighten the wood base color. And bleaching is the only choice to do that. The reddish brown of crotch is very strong; therefore, we need a strong bleaching chemical. We used the hydrogen peroxide chemical (part a chemical) and the sodium hydroxide (part b chemical) as the strong bleaching chemical. The combination of both chemicals is quite strong to whiten the red color of crotch mahogany.
We mixed 1 part hydrogen peroxide and 1 part sodium hydroxide and sprayed it on the wood surface until the wood was wet entirely with the liquid. Then we put the wet wood under sunlight for about 3 hours to let bleaching chemicals react and oxidize the wood. After about 3 hours under sunlight, the wood was dry and a white wood surface was obtained. But we had to wait for about 24 hours to ensure the reaction was perfectly done.
  • Physical distress.
After waiting for 24 hours and being sure that the reaction was complete, we started to do the finishing process. The first finishing process was the physical distress. We used nails, chains, files, and stone to rock and hit the furniture. We did the medium distressed according to the light antique finish we want to generate.
The process of distressing damaged the furniture and made some sharp and rough surfaces. We sanded the surface to clean the roughness from the distressing to make a smooth surface. The sanding was also done to cut the arisen wood fibers caused by the wetting of the wood at the bleaching process. Sanding also continued to break the sharp edges. The antique finishing didn't allow the sharp edges. The antique object should be used for a long time, and every sharp edge has to be worn and smooth. Any sharp edges should be sanded to become smooth and ware.
  • Applications of wood stain.
The bleaching process that was done correctly produced the uniform color at the wood surface. It makes the color application quite easy to be done; we don't need the equalizer stain or sap stain to uniformize the color. We used a light dye stain to be sprayed wet evenly to color the overall surface.
  • Wash coat application.
A wash coat is used to coat the surface of the wood and protect the stain so as not to be wiped in the glaze application. The vinyl wash coat was sprayed evenly to coat the entire surface, then we wait for about 15 minutes to let the wash coat dry.
After the wash coat was dry, I did the sanding on the wash coat to cut the arisen wood fibers. Scuffed sanding with # 280 was done to the overall surface until a smooth surface was obtained.
  • Glaze application.
Glaze is a very important stain to make an antique impression and deep and rich color at the finishing. Glaze was applied by sprayed and wiped, then brushed until it layered at the surface evenly.
To make a more lifelike appearance of the grain, we highlighted the glaze. The steel wool was used to wipe the glaze layer in some parts to enhance the wood grain.
We let the glaze sit for about 1 hour to make sure the glaze was thoroughly dry.
  • Sealer application.
Sealer is coated to protect the glaze and to build the film layer of the finishing. One layer coat was applied to protect the glaze layer and to build the film layer. The NC sealer was wet sprayed evenly to the overall surface. After about 30 minutes of waiting, the sealer was dry, and we used # 280 sandpaper to sand the sealer coat. 
  • Antiquing with glaze.
To add to the antique impression, we did the stain distressed. We use the glaze to add the antique impression at the finishing. Glaze was dry brushed to fill in and color inside the carving, the holes and dents from the physical distress.
The glaze was also applied to make spatter and cowtail marks to make it more dirty and antique-looking.
The next process was the second sealer. The sealer was applied by spray as the first sealer.
After about 30 minutes, the NC sealer was dry, and we sanded the sealer to make a smooth surface for the top coat application.
  • Application of top coat
The top coat is the last finishing layer to give protection for the finishing appearance and color underneath. In this process, we used a low-sheen top coat. Ten sheen NC top coat was sprayed evenly to coat the entire surface. The top coat needed more time to dry. We waited about 1 hour to let the top coat dry.
After the top coat dried, we continued the finishing process by sanding the top coat layer. We sanded the top coat layer with # 280 grade sandpaper to make a smooth and even surface. Then we repeated the top coat application. A ten-sheen NC top coat was sprayed evenly to the overall surface. We let the finish dry for 24 hours to ensure the top coat was fully dry.
  • Rubbing.
Rubbing is the last finishing process. We did simple rubbing to make a smooth surface finish and a more attractive-looking antique finish. The finest steel wool ( # 0000 grade) was used to rub the top coat layer until a smooth and even finishing film was obtained


 antique light mahogany finish




5 comments for "Antique light mahogany finish."

  1. i like this beautiful article .it is very good to understand .i also share this post with my friend
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  2. Thanks you for visiting my website.
    God Bless You

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  3. Very good article, i always like mahogany furniture just because of the look of it, you can say that it is looking very retro. by the way thanks for sharing this steps for making our furniture more bright.

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  4. The detailed description you shared here are very helpful to give the furniture a brand new look. Such finishing also enhances the life of the wooden furniture and helps to keep away termites. In fact a variety of different material furniture in market ia available like cane, steel, fabric and leather but wooden furniture looks very elegant. In offices also wooden office tables & tables with glass top is mostly used. Thanks for sharing such a helpful post.

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