Painting and Decorating Concourse
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Mahogany Woodgraining
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Base coat color for mahogany can vary from a coral color (above) to a red (see right) with a deep, red/black/brown glaze.
Zinsser's 123 Bullseye is a good base coat to use with either latex or oil glaze.
Zinsser BIN can be used as a base coat with oil glaze
Zinsser Coverstain can be used as a quick dry base coat with either oil or latex glaze.
If you wish you can use a satin latex paint for the base coat, allow it to dry overnight before glazing.
Glazes that I use for woodgraining are Modern Masters Tintable glaze and Pratt - n - Lambert Oil glaze. Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore Oil base glazes work well also.
Mahogany is actually a name given to a few varieties of woods. There are Cuban, African and Honduras Mahogany versions. Mahogany color varies from an "orangish" color to a "reddish" color. Mahogany is one of the woods most used on acoustic guitars (backs and sides), Rosewood being the other (both Brazilian and Indian).
Base Coat & Undergraining
A deep rich red mahogany heart woodgrain. Done with a red base and deep red/black/brown glaze
Ribbon mahogany woodgraining with the interlacing bands.
click here to read how to do ribbon mahogany graining.
Mahogany can be grained with either positive or negative techniques.
Negative Technique
Dry brush dragging is done in much the same way as with walnut graining - just with different base coat color and glaze color. See walnut woodgraining. for description of negative brush graining methods and techniques.
One characteristic of mahogany is the streakiness, where there are dark bands of dark burnt sienna color (use a mix of burnt umber and burnt sienna for these), Add these streaks, and then dry brush through them to break up the color.
Steel comb tracing
Use a dry brush to create the primary heart and straight grain. Add your dark streaking. Re-drag the whole thing with a dry brush,
Graining
then using a fine steel comb, retrace the grain with the steel comb. You must use a fine steel comb, you only want very fine lines.
Background undergraining
The undergraining of the pores can be flogged, or steel combed (or combed with the fine teeth of the triangular comb. To comb the pores, you will apply the glaze and then drag it out in a straight line - lengthwise with the piece of wood. Then, you will take a fine comb and comb in the direction of the grain in a "W" pattern. Comb over the dragged out glaze with two or three passes of this "W" patterned combing. This will break up the glaze creating realistic pores that look like real mahogany pores.
Keep the undergraining light. You do this by "stretching" out the glaze prior to dry brush dragging and combing.
Straight Grain
Mahogany
Positive Technique (oil glaze technique)
Apply a thin coat of your red/black/brown glaze over a coral base coat. Take a bristle softener and drag out the glaze from top to bottom - drag the glaze with the brush on a 45 degree (sideways) angle which will remove most of the glaze leaving only a light layer.
While the glaze is still wet, using a liner brush, apply the heart grain. Apply several grain lines then take the bristle softener and soften back (one direction only) the grain. The softening will create a fine grain lines.
Allow this layer to dry. Isolate this layer with a shellac wash coat.
The second graining layer will be a thin very transparent layer. Cut your red/black/brown glaze with two - four parts of clear glaze/mineral spirits (aobut 50/50 glaze/spirits).
Apply this glaze to the whole surface thinly, then add some streaks of color with straight black oil color onto the pre-wetted surface. Drag out these black streaks with a dry brush and then mottle the whole surface with a wavy mottler.
Clear Coat Finishing
You must clear coat over your woodgraining. I use Minwax Polyshades satin when using a latex glaze (Modern Masters), and shellac if I used an oil glaze. You can use oil varnish over oil graining. Allow overnight drying if using the Polyshades over Modern Masters, and two days drying when clear coating over oil graining. Shellac will not "melt" oil graining, but varnish might so give yourself extra drying time if using varnish.
Positive technique works well with oil glaze
Practice on illustration board the various techniques until you have them mastered before doing the woodgraiing for "real". This is true with all faux techniques.
Positive Technique Glaze:
1/3 mineral spirits
1/3 penetrol
1/3 satin polyurethane
Base Coat: Coral (see top of page) Use either BIN or 123 Bullseye.
Colorants: burnt umber / a little bit of lamp black
"Wavy" Mahogany
Wavy or highly mottled mahogany can be grained as a spliced "book matched" or "fiddle back" joint rendering.
Guitars, violins and other wood instrument backs are commonly done in book matched pieces.
Wavy or mottled mahogany is done with (surprise) - a mottler, either a straight mottler or a "wavy" mottler.
See Mottling.
To do a fiddle back or book matched joint, you will need to grain one side and allow it to dry. Once dry, you will tape off the piece straight down the center (brown easy mask paper tape will do), and copy your graining in a mirror image onto the other side.
