Tas blackwood picture frame finishing

I bought some tas blackwood but it is lighter than I would like (I think it was a really young tree?) Here are some pics

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here it is dressed
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Does this look like blackwood to you guys? theres quite a bit of colour variation. The wider piece in the dressed pic is some older blackwood I have from the past - looks different.

Anyway, I plan to make picture frames and want to add splines of a lighter coloured wood (such as vic ash or white oak). What should I use to make it darker a little?

I was thinking of putting a couple of coats boiled linseed or danish oil (which I will need to buy) and then a polyurethane over the top of that (I have a 2 pack poly made by a company called ER-LAC which has a slight amber colour)

So do you guys think boiled linseed or danish oil will look better?

Blackwood is very variable in colour. In the C19th it was also known as lightwood in its lighter variants. The Tasmanian Blackwood usually seems to be the darkest, but the species grows right up the coast to north of Brisbane. Up here it is usually pretty light, but Mapleman (on these forums) has had some spectacular dark fiddleback Blackwood grown here in Queensland for sale lately.

Most oil finishes such as Rustins Danish oil will definitely darken the timber up and give a good finish. You will not need to over-coat a good Danish oil with polyurethane and IMO it is better not to because then you can add more layers of Danish if you want to do so.

Boiled linseed oil will tend to stay sticky so probably not the best I suspect.

I have also used brown button shellac, which darkens the timber significantly, followed by a wax to give a soft glow.

Thanks for the tips!

Hi,

You could use Osmo oil or my favorite, Hard Burnishing oil (which is based on Tung Oil) If you want to see the method and how the finish looks, look at Damn Fine Furniture. You will find some photos and also a method.

Regards,

Rob