Reply To: Is it best to stain your pieces before assembly or after?
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The ‘Stain’ I’m using is spirit based and needs to be given a top coat after or it can be added to a clear varnish for a 1 step process. On that basis, I think it’s what you’re calling a dye.
Not necessarily. I’d put a top coat over a stain. Probably the single best test is the stir test. When you first opened the can, or after the can has sat for some time, are there solids on the bottom of the can? Can you scoop solids off of the bottom and see them on your stick? If so, the product is a stain or is stain like. If it is like a pure liquid, it is a dye. Some things are in between.
I also used the dye neat, except for the end grain where I put straight Methylated Spirits on the wood first then used a diluted dye to try and stop it absorbing far too much dye to match the faces.
Another way to handle end grain is to sand to a higher grit. If the face grain has been sanded to 180 or maybe 220, then you can try sanding the end grain to 320 or 600. This burnishes the end grain, closing the open ends of the wood fibers that soak up the stain or dye. You need to experiment to determine how much sanding to do. Remember that curves can expose grain that will be somewhere between end grain and face grain. A cabriole leg is a good example. The top of the foot, the top of the shoulder, and the bottom of the shoulder are close to end grain and can easily go very dark. To prevent this, you can sand those parts of the curves with higher grits while only going to 180 on the more face-grain portions to try to balance the color. Most of the curves on Paul’s stuff are gentle and face the floor, but there are a few where you could choose to use this method and benefit from doing so.
By the way, one problem with applying color with things taken apart, even if only removing drawers and tops, is that you have no feedback to help to make each component be equally dark as the others when applying the color. It’s easy to be off a bit. Usually, it’s not much and it doesn’t matter, but sometimes it does. This is where that trick of using another coat of dye on top of a barrier coat is handy. It can equalize the color. Since you are working on top of the barrier coat, you have a lot of control, so you can do much of this tint coat with things put back together and, also, the changes are small and easy to wipe off if needed.
- This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by Ed.