Dye on Maple

[George Bokros]

I will be finishing project soon and tried some TransTint dye on maple under the impression maple would not blotch with dye. I applied it with a cloth, I do not the ability to spray. I used TransTint in distilled water. It was sanded to 100 grit,I forgot to sand the test pieces further that the rough sanding.

What can I do to prevent blotching on the project? Should I seal with a coat of sealcoat first? Use some other wood conditioner? Or is it just the luck of the draw.?

Thanks

George

[John TenEyck]

If you sand it to 325 grit it will have a lot less tendency to blotch. A 1 lb cut of Sealcoat, sanded back, is an alternative or extra insurance, but I'd first try it w/o on some more test pieces. You may need a higher dye concentration if you use the SealCoat first. Some folks really like Charles Neil's Blotch Control product; I've never used it, however. My experience with Transtint actually showed less tendency to blotch using water as the diluent, rather than DNA, so there's nothing you can do on that front.

Spraying almost eliminates blotching. Might be time to pony up.

John

[Scott Holmes]

use a small kitchen type sponge to apply a wet coat of dye. Then, use same sponge, wrung out, to remove the excess dye, puddles and heavy areas. You are wanting to leave it damp after second sponging. You are not trying to wipe it dry as you would with an oil based stain. Let dry, you should be good to go.

Indeed spraying is faster and a bit more even.