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Thread: Staining Maple with TransTint Dye in Shellac?

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    I raise grain (sometimes) and knock off nibs, apply the dye, seal with de-waxed shellac and then finish with water borne top-coat. I don't personally worry about "blotching"...to me it's just the wood's figure. That's a personal subjective thing.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Upstate NY
    Posts
    3,789
    I needed a quantity of 10/4 wood, and got a great buy on sycamore. It would probably have been beautiful natural, but I wanted it stained dark.
    Blotched horribly. nothing worked, except tinted shellac. It is kinda like the transparent stain they sell for houses, but I was satisfied with it.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Northwestern Connecticut
    Posts
    147
    Dale - I have a quilted maple pencil post bed kit I bought from Barkley (think they are out of business now), and then finished myself. Their finishing instructions were spot on. I'll see if I can find them and send to you on a PM. Best, Jim

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Austin Texas
    Posts
    1,957
    I have sprayed (I use HVLP equipment that does not create the hurricane of overspray, etc that my older type spray equipment did years ago) an amount of water-cut Transtint dye to hard maple over the years. I use water rather than alcohol because the alcohol dries so fast and is less forgiving of application errors. I have read that using alcohol does eliminate the grain raising step, but I don't mind the grain raising step. On Hard Maple, I have always only used a lighter Honey Amber type color to basically just even out-warm up the light colored maple as opposed to adding in a lot of color. Colors can be mixed. I quite often use "Amber" underneath the main color to create some "glow" (as in the difference between Golden Oak and Oak). My typical process: I sand to 220#, wipe down the surface with a damp (water) sponge to raise the grain, scuff (by hand) sand with 220# to knock down the raised grain and then spray the color on with a light, "dry" coat cover so I do not have to wipe the applied color down. It takes a little practice spray on some cardboard to get set up right before doing it. Note: I usually only spray the dye when I am worried about blotching and normally rag it on for stuff I am not worried about so that I keep the color out of my spray equipment. I usually sand exposed end grain to 320#-400#, but all else 220# only. I plan hard to avoid spraying vertical surfaces any way at all possible, including making for a more inefficient spray schedule, to avoid having to wipe but it dries so fast it is not really an issue FOR ME. After putting on the color, I then spray on one coat of dewaxed shellac, followed by three-four coats of a water based topcoat. All of this stuff dries quickly and I can put my three-four coats of topcoat on in a longish day if the weather is warm and dry. If I need more (darker or changed slightly) color, I add in some dye to the topcoats to create a toner. I have found that I tend to use a toner more when trying to make the color match on the hardwood face frame and cabinet doors to the color of the hardwood plywood carcase. I write down my final finish schedule on my project plans and can retrieve it when needed and have provided the finish schedule to clients to have for any repair work down the road. I use Target Coatings for my spray shellac and topcoats, but there are other brands that work fine for other folks. As stated above, you need to add on some shellac and topcoat to the dried dye to truly see what the final result will be after trying some color on scrap. Finishing is not a real mystery after reading some of Jeff Jewitt's and Bob Flexnor's books. In my opinion, some folks should try to go a little further beyond just smearing Watco or something similar on everything because an oil soak-in type finish is not very protective at all. In my case, I invested in some decent spray equipment, but it also can be done with brushes, rags, pads, etc.
    Last edited by David Eisenhauer; 02-22-2017 at 9:38 PM.
    David

  5. #20
    Thanks everyone. Yeah, spray would be great but I don't have the money for a setup or the room, so it will be either rub on or brush (prefer rub). Thanks. I got two coats on with water/dye tonight so will see in the morning before school.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Wayland, MA
    Posts
    3,654
    I have had much better success using transtint and other dyes in alcohol rather than water. No issues with the grain rising, faster dry times, and better uniformity in my hands. I flood the surface with the dye. let it sit for a minute, and then wipe up the excess. Very low tech route to a nice result.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Mountain Home, AR
    Posts
    547
    My only experience with aniline dyes is on turnings, so I don't know how well my methods will work on larger panels. I've read that spraying is the ONLY way to get consistent color across all the various grain structures. I don't have a sprayer so I had to come up with a different method and I found that mixing the dye to a lighter shade (much lighter) than needed and flooding the surface does a good job of coloring evenly. Multiple applications may be necessary, but short of spraying this is the only way I've found to get the color even.

  8. #23
    I've decided that I'm done working with maple. It's horrible and I haven't been happy with any finish I've tried. I've tried a ton of different tinted shellac mixtures with dye, and some dye mixed with water, I've tried Waterlox, I've used regular Minwax stains etc. They're all bad but maybe it's just me. Maple is just the devil. I spent so much time working on the table and now the finish is, well.... junk.

  9. #24
    <p>
    I know this thread is kinda old but wanted to throw in my 2 cents for anyone searching for this topic like I was.</p>
    <p>
    If you are trying to stain a blotchy wood, I&#39;ve found Daly&#39;s Benite wood conditioner to work very well. I&#39;ve used Benite on douglas fir and maple, and it always gives me a blotch-free stain or finish. Basically, you just lay down a wash coat of Benite with a brush. Let it dry for 24 hours. Then apply your stain or finish. Works great for me. I&#39;ve tried alot of other methods mentioned here and had mixed results. Always get great results with Benite and am surprised it&#39;s not more common.</p>

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    WNY
    Posts
    9,645
    Dave, I've never heard of Benite. Does it work with WB dyes and stains or only OB? Thanks.


    John

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