Chestnut Blotch

[Bill Adamsen]

At some point I realized that no matter how many times I did the same thing, this blotch wasn't going away. I seem to recall an old axiom about that.

The blotch is caused by an unusual grain situation which I should have picked up on. The stain is an ML Campbell Woodsong II solvent based. Should have pre-coated with shellac ... but of course, that is a "shoulda, woulda, coulda ...." What are my options now? Glaze?

[John TenEyck]

How much did you do? If it's just a few feet I'd strip it and then sand it much finer, at least to 325 grit. Then apply a 1# cut of dewaxed shellac, and then lightly sand that back with 325 grit. At that point, I think the stain will take evenly. I think. If not, there's always Charles Neal's blotch controller.

John

[Bill Adamsen]

sand it much finer, at least to 325 grit. Then apply a 1# cut of dewaxed shellac, and then lightly sand that back with 325 grit.

Took that approach and had I done that from the start ... it would likely have worked perfectly. The result is pretty good and I will live with it. I can still see that area that grabbed additional stain and that I was unable to "sand out." But for what it is, the solution worked fine.

[John TenEyck]

Glad it worked out for you Bill.

John

[Rick Johnston]

John
Would you recommend spraying or brushing the shellac for this? In theory how are the results different than using a wood conditioner? Shellac approach more likely to not fail?
Rick

[Stan Calow]

Bill, I can't see "an unusual grain situation" in your photo. Is there something you see that would have got you attention? My experience has been that blotch does not follow any grain pattern.

[Prashun Patel]

Glad that worked for you.

Have to admit, though, I'm Stan. I can't see the switching grain.

The blotch regions appear so square in the pix that I'm wondering if it was just contamination or staining that you had. Resanding may have eliminated that. Did you get the same blotch all over your project? Anyway, would love to see the whole shebang!

[John TenEyck]

John
Would you recommend spraying or brushing the shellac for this? In theory how are the results different than using a wood conditioner? Shellac approach more likely to not fail?
Rick


Hi Rick,

I normally spray shellac but this is one of those occasions when brushing or wiping might make more sense as you can easily apply more to the thirsty spots and you aren't overly concerned with how pretty it looks since you are going to sand it back after it's dry. The shellac is really no different from a wood conditioner, just a different way of going about it. Both attempt to put something in the thirsty areas so they will not absorb more stain than the less porous areas. I like shellac because I always have it on hand, it's pretty cheap, and it dries really quickly.

John

[Bill Adamsen]

Prashun, tried to take a photo with a better lens than the iPhone ... but it still didn't come out very well. But I think you can see the switching grain under the outlined areas. And where the grain switched is where I had the issue with picking up too much stain. I was kicking myself because I should have seen this in the wood before starting to stain.

This is the final state (I have yet to apply a topcoat) not perfect by any means, but "good enough." This was just a simple frame for a watercolor painting. The painting was of a lovely chestnut log cabin built along the shores of a lake in Northwestern CT. I thought the American chestnut frame would be a nice detail with some symbolism. The actual watercolor is not quite so saturated in color, but beautiful nonetheless.

I have been involved for the past decade or so with the American Chestnut Foundation's effort to restore the tree to the former range. I served as President of the CT Chapter for eight years and during my incarceration ... I mean term ... we planted over 3000 backcross trees throughout research orchards in CT. We're now using those trees that have tested as "more" resistant to the blight for intercross breeding to create seed orchards that will hopefully be the source of trees that can regenerate the chestnut forests of the east. Lessons learned may help inform efforts to save trees from other pests and pathogens such as the Ash trees and others.

I'll leave it at that. Most people that ask me questions about the program later regret having done so ... because they can't get me to shut up!

[Prashun Patel]

Really interesting! I have always wanted to try working with chestnut. Soon, you'll have to turn your attention to Ash.

[Rick Johnston]

My apologies to the OP and thread hijack.
John, a stain is applied while the conditioner is still wet - at least for Minwax's- with the shellac it's a dried film. How does a penetrating oil stain work with the shellac film?
Rick

[John TenEyck]

My apologies to the OP and thread hijack.
John, a stain is applied while the conditioner is still wet - at least for Minwax's- with the shellac it's a dried film. How does a penetrating oil stain work with the shellac film?
Rick

Rick, you don't have a film of shellac. You sand it back after it dries. All you are doing is filling some of the pores, and hopefully making the blotch prone areas less thirsty. Oil stains, WB stains, even dyes still go on just fine, although they might need more time, or a higher concentration in the case of dye, to get the same color intensity.

John

[Rick Johnston]

So it's a thin coat of 1 lb - just how much sanding is that to cut back Almost sounds like just like scuffing up a bit if using 320.
I guess I'll have to try it to experiment.
Tks

[John TenEyck]

Yep, the only way to know how it works is to try it yourself on some blotch prone wood, which includes most maple, pine, cherry, birch, poplar ... heck, lots of woods.

John