Water based stain?

[Randall Clark]

I just purchased some water based tintable stain, had the BORG ad the dye, and off I went. However, having never used a water based stain, is there anything I need to be aware of in comparison to the oil based stains? Thank You.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Test test test.

Wet the piece, sand and then stain. You'll likely still raise a little more stubble though.
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[Joe Chritz]

Work faster it dries pretty quick and you need to keep moving to avoid any lap marks.

Grain raise, but if you pre-raise like Mitch suggested it isn't to bad.

I really haven't used any I like and if I use stain I opt for the fast dry oil from Sherwin Williams.

Joe

[Chris Padilla]

Minwax water-based I presume?

Being water, of course, it'll swell the wood fibers (aka raise the grain) as has been mentioned.

Do practice on some scrap and be sure to practice on scrap that is of comparable size/nature of what you plan to stain. This stuff is a bit painful to work as Joe alluded to.

Let me put it this way: I was staining a 1/4" thick oak board about 14" wide and 20" tall. I had to sand it back 3 (!!) times due to messing up the stain application.

You must work quickly and you must lay it down right the first time (almost) or it won't look good. You must keep a wet edge as long as possible. I used a balled up shop towel (the blue kind) as my applicator.

Now I have fancy-ish raised panel oak doors to do with this stain and I'm shuddering at trying it BUT this stain we got matches so perfectly with the existing that I really have no choice. So my next experiment is apply this stain by spraying it. It will take some practice but I think it should work.

[Joe Chritz]

Chris, spraying was the only way I could get some Target waterbase stain to color the kids beds evenly. Spraying works well, saturate it with the gun and wipe off quickly.

Joe

[Scott Holmes]

If you use an alcohol based dye and you spray it; you don't have to wipe it.

What-you-see-is-what-you-get.

[Chris Padilla]

I don't think I'll need to wipe this Minwax water-based stain after spraying either but we'll see how it goes. The whole point for me is to lay it down nice and even and not touch it. It is when you touch it that things go awry.

[Scott Holmes]

I agree, water is a bit easier to manipulate than the alcohol based dye. Technique on applying an even coat is the key.

[Darius Ferlas]

I applied my first alcohol based stain last week and I liked the results. IMO the control of the amount of spray is key, but unless you flood the surface, even if you wanted to wipe it off, I doubt there would be any time for that. That stuff dries almost instantaneously.

WB stain will be my best experiment. I heard it dries a little longer.