How can you get wood tables darker

[Guest TankerHC]

Without ruining them. I picked up a couple of really nice condition antique wood end tables that are wood and marble, cheap. Looking, they have to be at least 50 years old and are not laminated. Someone took very good care of them. They are dark, but not dark enough to match my furniture. I was going to give them away to someone but they are too darn nice and match my furniture except for tone. . 

 

How can I make them darker without ruining them and having a bunch of swirls and whatnot? Is there something to wipe on and wipe off?

Edited February 23, 2014 by TankerHC

[FUJIMO]

If its bare wood that is porus i have used dark shoe polish to "wax on wax off". I wouldn't suggest using it for anything food related after that but you will definitely increase darkness.

That or gel stain is also an option Edited February 23, 2014 by FUJIMO

[Smokin45]

May have to strip the old finish down to wood and stain it the color desired and finish.

[TrickyNicky]

What do you mean by darker? Can you post a pic of what it looks like and what you need it to look like?

[jhc77]

May have to strip the old finish down to wood and stain it the color desired and finish.

I sanded and stained/cleared my Ethan Allen dining room table and It turned out fine. Just had to get over the first buzz with the sander on an antique piece of furniture.

[Guest TankerHC]

What do you mean by darker? Can you post a pic of what it looks like and what you need it to look like?

 

Need to get this top one as close to the bottom one as possible.

 

 

[Hozzie]

Hard to tell from the pictures as it doesn't look that different, but my guess is it is much redder than what you currenty have.  Most likely you will have to sand it.  The next problem you are going to have is determining if the woods are the same.  Different woods are going to stain different colors with the same stain.  

 

If you really like them, I would sand them down and determine the type of wood it is.  Then I would buy a piece of "test" wood of the same kind and start to test some different stains.  It looks to me like it could be a mix of Chestnut (for the reddish color) and walnut (to get the darker color) to get the same type of finish.  you will have to experiment to get it just right depending how picky you are.  You will then need a topcoat.  Hard to tell how shiny the one you already have is, but a latex polyurethane is easy to work with.  If you have an hvlp sprayer, it will come out much better.

 

Before you sand it completely, take a piece of 0000 steel wool to it.  Give it a very good rubbing down and try some walnut stain on a small area inside a leg.  Let it sit for differing times and see if anything happens.  If that doesn't work, you will need to sand and find a stain combination that works.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Good ideas. Just a caution-- The dark stains like walnut can get REAL DANG NEARLY BLACK DARK on some woods, so checking on an interior surface is a great idea.

[TrickyNicky]

If the furniture is worth it to you, I would strip and restain. I don't think you'd be happy with a quick fix's results just going off some of your other posts.

Before doing anything make sure you have a good understanding of what you have. It maybe that doing anything to it is throwing money down the drain in that it may be worth more as it sits than you paid.

[Raoul]

Maybe just embrace the concept of eclectic decorating.

[Guest PapaB]

Be aware that any alterations on antique furniture that has any value will reduce its value by at least half. Antique in the furniture world is at least 100 years old but not all of it is valuable.

[peejman]

You're the only one that will notice the color difference. 

 

I've got an antique china cabinet (family heirloom), antique buffet (wife bought it), kitchen table and chairs (gift from old neighbor), and book case (bought it) all sitting within a few feet of one another on a wood floor (came with the house).  None of them are exactly the same color.  No one cares. 

 

Given that they're probably all made from different types of wood, even stripping and re-staining them isn't likely to yield perfectly matching colors.  Different woods absorb stain differently.  Heck, different pieces of wood from the same tree don't always come out the same color. 

[JPS]

If it's not sealed, you can try using a little Watco Danish Oil (Dark) and see if that gets it to the color you want.  Watco oil works great, but needs to be reapplied once in a while.  Refinishing it completely may get it to the color you want, but you'll loose the 'aged' character that makes most older pieces look good.