Making Baltic Birch look like Oak

[thender]

OK....  I have a book case with a red oak frame finished with Watco Dark Walnut oil finish.

I am revising the shelving scheme and using Baltic Birch plywood for the shelves.

Any suggestions for finishing the BB shelves to get a decent match to the Oak frame?

This is obviously not a museum piece.  But I'll be living with it until I move in a couple years and would like it to look nice...

Any suggestions appreciated!

-Tom in SoCal

 

[Ed Bray]

Have you access to a bandsaw to cut your own Oak Veneers? If so, a couple of Oak floorboards would probably give you all the veneers you need.

Failing that I would search for available veneers.

 

[mike_aa]

Another alternative is to use PSA veneer. 

oakwoodveneer.com

Mike A.

 

[thender]

Thanks for the veneer in suggestions...  But I was hoping for some finishing suggestions that would either make the BB look like oak, or at least look compatible with the oak frame.

My original thought was to just use the same Watco dark walnut oil finish;  another thought would be to use natural Watco for a two-tone finish.  A third option is to try the GF Java finish and darken the BB.

But I thought I would see if anybody here had been down that road before...

Thanks in advance.

-Tom in SoCal

 

[semenza]

    Probably something you've already considered but ..... if you are going to put any money into covering, oakifying (  [big grin] ) the shelves wouldn't it be as cost effective and easier to just make new shelves from oak plywood?

    Maybe look into faux painting with stains?

Seth

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

It's not going to happen with birch ply.

 

[WastedP]

The Truth:

It's not going to happen with birch ply.

If it really has to be different species, why not just paint the birch ply black and turn the dissimilarity into a design element?

Failing that, see if any building supply thrift stores have suitable oak ply off-cuts.

 

[mike_aa]

Is there a reason why you want to use the BB and not switch to oak plywood?

Mike A.

 

[Wooden Skye]

I would take some scraps and try different stains, find something you like that is close and go with it. 

The other thing would be cut the shelfs narrow, and then apply solid oak edging and stain like the rest.  You mentioned it was a book shelf, there are going to be things on the shelf, so this method may give a good contrast for the spots you will still be able to see.

 

[jlyons]

Buy 1/4" oak ply/veneered hard board and glue it on.

 

[wkearney99]

I would take some scraps and try different stains, find something you like that is close and go with it. The other thing would be cut the shelves narrow, and then apply solid oak edging and stain like the rest.

That's my thought as well.  There's quite a lot that can be done with treating wood (stains, dyes or a combo of both).  Such that you might be able to effectively color the BB such that you don't notice it's not the same wood.  The trouble is you'd have to have access to a bunch of different stains & dyes in order to experiment.  I took a finish class a few weeks ago and was really surprised how some combinations come together for certain effects.  A yellow/amber dye under a dark cherry stain even made pale/greenish poplar look like a really nice, warm mahogany. 

In the class we learned that dye penetrates the wood, stain has pigment solids that essentially lay on top of it.  We did some stripes across 12" squares of plywood veneer.  Dyes running one direction and then stains perpendicular.  It was quite remarkable how the layering developed the colors.  Even more so when different kinds of shellac was applied.

General Finishes has made some really good retail sample boards showing their products.  If you have a retailer that has one of their displays you'd do well to take a look. 

 

[nclemmons]

You may get some blotching with the birch ply, so I'd consider using GF Walnut Gel stain as a starting point.  It's less blotch prone than a stain. 

If you can do an oak veneer, I think you run a better chance of matching both grain and color with the products you used on the oak piece.