Mixol 101: Tinting Natural Oil Finishes

by Autumn Peterson

Our finishes are clear. They deepen the grain and warm the wood, but they do not change its color. Most of the time that is exactly what people want. Sometimes it is not, and that is what Mixol is for.

Mixol Oxide tints are the richest and highest quality pigments we have found. They mix straight into our oils, so you get an expanded palette while still working with a natural penetrating finish rather than switching to a stain or a paint.

What Mixol is

Mixol has been made in Germany for more than 35 years, and it is a universal tinting paste, which means it is compatible with all of our products and with most other oil based finishes.

Three properties make it particularly well suited to what we do.

It is binder-free. There is no carrier resin, only pigment. That is why it mixes into anything, and why it has an indefinite shelf life. It will not dry out or thicken in the bottle.

The oxide colors are inorganic pigments. They are, in effect, finely ground mineral. That makes them colorfast, fade resistant, and weatherproof.

It resists frost and heat. Combined with the point above, that is what makes these tints genuinely good for exterior work rather than merely acceptable.

They are also intermixable, so you can blend colors to get exactly what you want, and they are neither flammable nor hazardous.

Pigment, not dye, and why that matters

A dye dissolves. It colors the wood fibers in solution and it fades over time, because light breaks down the molecules that make the color.

A pigment does not dissolve. It is solid particles suspended in the oil, carried into the pores and the grain and left there when the oil cures.

Two useful things follow.

Pigment accentuates grain rather than flattening it. Particles collect in the open pores and the softer early wood, which is where the figure is. A tinted oil tends to make grain more visible, not less. This is the opposite of what a heavy stain does.

Pigment protects against UV. Solid particles block light from reaching the wood, which is why our oxide tints are ideal for exterior work or anywhere UV fading is a concern. If you are finishing something outdoors and are open to color, tinting is a performance upgrade and not only an aesthetic one.

Mixing

Add the pigment directly into the oil at your desired intensity and mix well before use.

Keep mixing as you work. The pigment is a solid in suspension and solids settle to the bottom. Mix once at the start of a large job and the last of the can will be noticeably stronger than the first, which you will see on the wall.

Write the ratio down. On the can, in a notebook, on your phone. You will want it again in five years when the piece needs a maintenance coat, and an untinted maintenance coat over a tinted finish reads as a pale patch.

Mix in gallon batches. For larger quantities we recommend tinting one gallon at a time rather than trying to tint a full five gallon bucket. Getting pigment evenly through five gallons is genuinely difficult, and an unevenly mixed pail is an expensive mistake.

Wear gloves. Mixol will stain skin, clothing, and work surfaces.

How much

These are very concentrated colors, so a little goes a long way.

Start light. Two to three drops per ounce of finish is a sensible place to begin, then build up gradually. It is far easier to add color than to remove it.

Full saturation is 200 ml of Mixol to 1 gallon of Heritage oil. That is the strongest color you can get while still seeing the wood grain. Beyond it, the finish starts behaving like paint. You can add more pigment as you need to. It will be slower to dry and the grain will be quite obscured.

  • 50 ml to 1 quart
  • 200 ml to 1 gallon
  • 700 ml to 3.5 gallons
  • 1,000 ml to 5 gallons

Half saturation is half of each:

  • 25 ml to 1 quart
  • 100 ml to 1 gallon
  • 350 ml to 3.5 gallons
  • 500 ml to 5 gallons

For any quantity not on the table, every figure above is the same ratio. Full saturation is roughly 5.3 percent pigment by volume, half saturation roughly 2.6 percent. One gallon is 3,785 ml, so the arithmetic is straightforward from there. Thin out as needed for a lighter color.

Bottle sizes and conversions. 20 ml is 0.68 oz, 200 ml is 6.76 oz, and 500 ml is 16.0 oz. So a single 200 ml bottle is exactly one gallon at full saturation. We also carry a 5 kg size in a couple of colors.

Applying tinted oil

Apply liberally to the surface, allow it to soak in, and wipe down lightly with a cotton cloth. Two coats for best results. The surface dries to the same classic rich matte sheen as our untinted finishes.

Always test first, on an offcut of the same stock. This matters more with tint than without. The same ratio gives genuinely different results on cherry than on Douglas fir than on white oak, because what you see is pigment plus the wood's own color, not pigment alone.

Watch your end grain. End grain absorbs several times what face grain does, so it takes several times the pigment and goes dramatically darker. Test it separately.

Blotch prone species blotch harder. Cherry, maple, birch, alder, and pine vary in density across a board, and tint amplifies that variation rather than hiding it.

Multiple coats deepen the color. Two coats at half saturation is not the same as one at full. Test the way you intend to apply.

Coverage

About 400 square feet per gallon in Original or Exterior Finish on the first coat, and nearly double that on the second, depending on the species you are finishing.

Always do a test first, both to confirm you like the color and to check that the oil is penetrating properly.

Cleanup

Soap and water for pure pigment. Or rubbing alcohol.

Once the Mixol is mixed into oil, use Pure Citrus Solvent or another solvent for hard surfaces and brushes.

The colors

Mixol Oxides run to earth tones, which is what suits wood: Oxide Brown, Oxide Red, Oxide Yellow, Oxide Green, Oxide Camel, Oxide Chestnut, Oxide Terra Brown, Oxide Tabak, Oxide Dark Brown, Oxide Stone Grey, White, and Brilliant Black.

Because they intermix freely, the palette is much larger than the list. Blend for custom shades, adjust warmth or coolness with small amounts of a contrasting color, create a weathered or aged look, or match an existing finish for restoration work.

The 20 ml bottles are cheap enough to buy several and test properly before committing to a gallon.

What to know before you commit

Color is much easier to add than to remove. Lightening a tinted finish means sanding back to bare wood. Start lighter than you think you want.

Maintenance coats need the same ratio. This is the real reason to record it.

Species changes everything. A ratio that looks right on one wood will not look the same on another.

Beyond full saturation you are painting, not finishing. If that is what you want, that is a different product.

Safety: oily rags

Mixol itself is not flammable or hazardous, but tinted oil is still oil. Natural drying oils generate heat as they polymerize, and a pile of saturated rags can reach ignition on its own with no spark nearby.

Lay used rags flat and separated outdoors until stiff and fully dry, submerge them in water in a sealed metal container, or use a listed oily waste can.

 

  • Trying to match an existing color, or not sure which oxide to start from? Call us at 541-844-8748 or write info@heritagenaturalfinishes.com. We are glad to talk it through before you mix a gallon.

 

Back to HNF Blog