Re: Finishing mahogany

So I stained with ACE red mahogany, then wiped off with 50/50 poly/thinner soon after. 6hrs later on a hot day, I wiped on a 1/3 poly, 1/3 thinner, 1/3 walnut stain. Any advice on how I should proceed? Please see scrap/test piece below, just the outer rim.

I've read I could just use the wiping varnish as filler, build up until pores level with the surface, and sand and rub out to a gloss. Or use a wood grain filler.

what do you want to achieve? red mahogany, then poly/thinner then walnut stain... very confusing.

as for grain filling, there are lots of ways to get there. using the wiping varnish will work. One way to get there is to apply a coat or two of the varnish, let it fully cure then scrape, plane or sand with a light grit. then apply varnish and the same process all over until you get to where you want to be......

Re: Finishing mahogany

Something I've read about. I hope to create color contrast. Darker stain to soak into the deep grains,just to highlight the grain patterns,then the wiping varnish partly seals it,then the lighter colored stain goes on as glaze. But I've a lot to learn on finishing,i dont know if that makes sense.

So wiping varnish 'can' level it off then? If im gonna rub the finish,that means a lot of coats right? I read you typically do 10-20 coats for shellac, i dont know if the same goes for the wood and wiping varnish I have. I use ACE semi-gloss poly with davies paint thinner btw.
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Re: Finishing mahogany

Something I've read about. I hope to create color contrast. Darker stain to soak into the deep grains,just to highlight the grain patterns,then the wiping varnish partly seals it,then the lighter colored stain goes on as glaze. But I've a lot to learn on finishing,i dont know if that makes sense.

So wiping varnish 'can' level it off then? If im gonna rub the finish,that means a lot of coats right? I read you typically do 10-20 coats for shellac, i dont know if the same goes for the wood and wiping varnish I have. I use ACE semi-gloss poly with davies paint thinner btw.
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I used satin poly from ace before to finish a mahogany conference table, it took 4 to 6 coats of poly with heavy sanding in between before I got to fill all the pores. I sprayed the poly straight out of the can without thinning. wiping 50/50 will take you more coats before you achieve that.
You do have to poly the stain heavy first, kasi when you start sanding, you do not want to reach the stained portion and remove it.

I believe walnut will give you the darker stain of the two. try it the other way around. here is how I would do that.
stain with walnut, let dry for a day, apply a very light coat of sanding sealer and dry, lightly sand it 280 or higher grit then apply the mahogany stain... apply poly or sanding sealer then sand again and poly until I'm happy.
hope that makes sense....
cheers