I am building a Coffee Table from "red gum" to match existing trim ia a clients house. The Red gum that i have purchased is very brown and the customers wood has a reddish hue. The saw the wood being re-fnished and say there was only several coats of Oil applied. Do you know if Red gum will change color with time?
-Kenny B.
Memphs, TN
Coffee Table
Our Expert
All the woods that I've used in woodworking change color with time and exposure to sunlight. For example, in just twelve months cherry changes from a pink salmon color to a deep, rich reddish brown. Walnut starts out with a dark chocolate brown color and lightens with more reddish and yellow tones. Although I've never worked with red gum I suspect that it changes, too. As a
rule-of-thumb light woods such as maple darken with time and dark woods become lighter.
When color matching new wood to match aged wood I use aniline dyes. I'll usually start out by bleaching a dark wood, such as walnut, with two-part wood bleach to provide a more neutral base for the dye. You can find wood bleach at most paint and hardware stores. After bleaching I apply the dye and then a top coat. Dyes are available in dozens of shades and I just
experiment on offcuts to find a color that matches the aged wood as closely as possible.