Wicker Questions

I ordered a wicker armoire to serve as a backbar in my lounge. It is a light honey color, but I need to stain it to match my bamboo and wicker bar, which is a darker honey color pictured here. What I want to know, is what is the best kind of stain to use? Should I use a stain and then seal it with a polyurethane or what?

Got my armoire and it is indeed too light. More of a wheat color, not really the honey color I want. I will need to stain it and gonna do that this Sunday.

I will probably go to Lowes for the stain, so if anyone has any suggestions for doing this I would appreciate it. I have stained furniture in past, but not sure if I should do a stain and then polyurethane or a combo product. I am leaning towards the stain, so it can soak in more. There is already a little bit of a glaze on this.

Thanks :tiki:

Do not use stain. Use shellac.
Get the amber. It's made by zinser.
Do a small test peice to chcek for a match.
If it is too dark Just add some of the
Zinser clear shellac.
Sounds like it has a clear coat of some kind.
It won't take stain if it does.

Will unfinished bamboo take stain? I've heard somewhere that it doesn't work very well. I've never tried it, I'm just curious.

No it will not. Bamboo has a wax like surface.
Now if that surface is taken off it may.
Look at the Kahiki drink mixer I made in
other crafts. Tikiskips large tiki light.
I drilled the surface then put stain on.
Only the drilled spots took the stain.
You can shellac bamboo.
In fact you should shellac bamboo.
It protects it from moisture, Mold.
And it looks better.

Thank you tikiskip....I am off to Home Depot now. :)

Mission accomplished....got brushes, shellac and gonna tackle this on Sunday. Hope I can get it done in one day. I'll take before and after pictures. :)

You need to really push the shellac into the weave.
If you swirl the brush the shellac will kind of foam.
That will help get it into the cracks.

Thanks for the suggestion. Looking forward to smelling that shellac. :D

I picked up a couple of interesting chairs today at an estate sale. Then promptly had one fall off the car while transporting it. (minor dents that don't show)...but anyway...

They are in pretty good shape except around the bottom where there is pretty bad water damage. While most of the chair is a light honey color, where the damage is is grey and yucky. Is there a way to bring it back or even get it close? Also the old finish (shellac?) has begun to peel off down there. looks a little like big strips of scotch tape except kind of brittle. I've gor a can of boiled linseed oil I got for another project. Which does anyone prefer? I like the tip about tinted shellac. Will it look odd if I do just the damaged parts or can it be matched pretty well?

That is a hard one. I don't know. I have never delt with that kind of
problem. You would need to check in a small kind of hidden spot.
My guess is that it will not be perfect. But better.
I do not think it will match and heres why.
Shellac is transparent kind of so the grey will show through and give
a different color.
If you sand it it will have a different surface.
Plus I don't think sanding would work.
Maybe steel wool?
You will need to just do some tests to see what works.
Good Luck!
And let us know what works best.

I wonder if it would be best for you to do some cleaning of the wicker first. If you can get rid of that grey color and bleach it back to a natural tome, it might look better and match the rest of the piece when you apply the shellac.

So Vamp girl did it work?
Was it a good color match?

Someone posted a list of local So Cal rattan/cane/bamboo suppliers recently, but I can't find it by searching. Anyone able to find it? I think before the shellac project I'll replace some of the rotten pieces.

This thread has some good refinishing information in it.

Franks Supply offers a link to repairs.

I didn't paint my armoire today, but got it out of the box (a struggle in itself for me), and I put painter's tape around all the wood. The wood is a nice light blond which will be a good contrast to the shellac color and will match some of my other furniture in my lounge. The shelves have clear shellac on them. I want to totally protect them from leakage from bottles, so should I just apply more shellac, or should I use a polyurethane on them?

If you don't want to change the color of the shelves polyurethane.
Should you want them more orange shellac like in color, shellac.
I always do a small test peice.

Oh gawd....I will have to go to Home Depot for urethane...I may have to have a Mai Tai before I go this week. :drink:

I wanted to thank everyone for the help on my original question...the shellac worked great. You can see in the picture that the color is a really good match for my bar. The cabinet (behind all the booze) was a very pale honey blond...now it is a nice robust golden tone and it took two coats. In fact, I am thinking of spiffing up the bar and chairs some day with the clear shellac.

https://tikicentral.com/uploads/6053/47ef3a88.jpg

That looks awesome! It turned out really well...your liquor collection doesn't look too shabby either!

Just found this great vintage website...neat "stuff" there. Thought this chair was interesting.