This was a happy experiment. These are wooden grade crossings from Blair Line. The bottom set is new, right out of the box. The upper set has been soaked in coffee grounds for two days. That's right, coffee grounds make a great stain. So, the next time you need to stain some wood pieces, save the grounds from your morning coffee! :)
Our coffee grounds are already spoken for, they go into the compost pile. We have very fidgity worms!
Jim
Cool, something to note. Coffee grounds. Those planks do have a nice color.
I've always used a wash of 70% or even 90%, alcohol, with ink, usually black, and even brown, and gives an instant result, a "lean" mix, and do how ever many coats it takes, to get the results I'am looking for.
Mike.
My You Tube
hardcoalcase Our coffee grounds are already spoken for, they go into the compost pile. We have very fidgity worms! Jim
Have any black walnut trees in the neighborhood? Do you chew tobacco? These all make good stains.
PC101 hardcoalcase Our coffee grounds are already spoken for, they go into the compost pile. We have very fidgity worms! Jim Have any black walnut trees in the neighborhood? Do you chew tobacco? These all make good stains.
Back in the '50s, when I was building a Lionel layout, money was tight. Plaster from the local hardware store was 5 cents a pound, and an O sized Lionel boxcar was $5.
It was suggested that used coffee grounds, baked on a tinfoil covered cookie sheet, made excellent ground cover. I jumped on that idea, and used it on every layout since - including the current HO layout which was begun in 2008.
I still have a 2 lb coffee can of grounds that was sourced in the mid 1970s, which I have used for a few dirt roads on the current layout.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Wow, never thought of coffee grounds. They are now on my to-do list next time I have to stain wood.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
I've gotten similar results just using the coffee that has turned cold before I finished drinking it. I just brush it on like a stain and then put a press on the wood piece to prevent warping. Most mornings I am throwing at least some of it out. I'll try your method and compare the two.