1. first clean the surface to be lasered. The best substrate is a clean wooden surface, planed

or finely sanded with steel wool or sandpaper.

2. to get an even absorption and thus an even color, you should first oil the surface with a so-called semi-oil, a mixture of 50 percent boiled linseed oil and 50 percent turpentine.

Leave to dry for 1-2 days.

3. When the surface is dry, apply the glaze paint.

• Then smooth out the paint to get an even color and to avoid the paint becoming too thick. Different colors have different coverage, but the opacity is also determined by how light you are on your hand. Press the brush hard and the paint will be thinner. Be light on your hand and it will be thicker. If you want more coverage, you can also increase the amount of paint in the glaze – or paint again! But let it dry in between.
• A simple mahogany acid can be seen in our 1890s room in the “Second Building” in Gysinge.
• In general, we have only painted “long straw” and avoided more difficult core drawing and outright wood imitation. The overall impression is not worse because you choose this simpler way of painting. Prepare a masonite board on the side and prime it. You can use it to practice veining before you start on the real surfaces. For imitation mahogany, both glaze primer and glaze paint can be bought ready-made.
• Paint a thin base coat of light yellow linseed oil paint, corresponding to a maximum of 7% iron oxide yellow in our color chart. Make the paint lean, i.e. dilute it with at least 10% turpentine. The primer is only for smoothing out the surface’s own color variations and should be thin, rough and very matte, otherwise you will just slip around with the glaze paint in the next step. Here is an old recipe based on the use of dry pigment.
• Spread the glaze paint on top of the base paint. Spread it evenly with a wallpaper brush.
• Draw wood patterns using a brush, wallpaper brush or similar. If necessary, add a core drawing using a little glaze that breaks in an even darker color than the mahogany glaze itself. Wait a while until the color “sets”. Then soften the painting by gently brushing the surface with a displacer. Leave to dry.
• It is a good idea to coat the entire surface once more with unpigmented laser oil. This will make the surface extra resistant to wear.