Transtint on Hard Maple

[Todd Zucker]

I was hoping someone could help me decipher these results with Transtint on Hard Maple.

The recipient of a table I am building wants it stained a little darker than I anticipated, and I’m pretty sure I am going to ruin it.

To make a test panel, I took a scrap piece that had some plain wood and some figured areas near the knot and resawed 6 test pieces. I should have marked the veneer sequence but didn’t think to do that.

I raised the grain and sanded two to 180 grit, two to 220 grit and two to 320 grit, and on half of the pieces, I sealed them with one coat of a mixture of Sealcoat (1 part) and DNA (2 parts) and re-sanded to the same grits.

I then made a water solution of Transtint (Dark Vintage Maple and Medium Brown) that is about the color the recipient wants. I pre-wetted the surface with just water before flooding the surface with the dye stain (putting the dye on the dry wood without pre-wetting with water looked blotchy right off the bat).

The three pieces on the left have the Sealcoat, and, as expected, the 180 grit (on the left) was the darkest. The higher grits were about the same.

But, on the pieces without Sealcoat, the 180 grit was the lightest and most uniform, while the 320 grit was by far the blotchiest and darkest.

Not at all what I was expecting.

Then, I turned them over, and the dye stain had penetrated through to the other side in the blotchiest areas. Again, not what I was expecting, as the test pieces were a little more than 1/16” thick.

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I am trying to figure out there is enough variation between 6 slices from a ¾” inch board to account for the greater dye penetration on the back side, which might be skewing the results. I marked the pieces with the grit as soon as I sanded each one, so I know I didn’t mislabel them, and it doesn’t seem like sanding to the higher grit should increase the absorption.
The results are interesting.

For the table, I am going to prewet it and flood it in the same manner with water-based dye but will probably use a 50/50 ratio of Sealcoat and DNA first as the sealer (but will test again).
I read a previous post saying that spraying a mix of Transtint dye in diluted Sealcoat without wiping would work well, almost like a toner, but when I opened the Rockler HVLP sprayer I got on clearance last year and tried it on one of the cabriole legs, it was an utter disaster. Maybe after a lot of practice that technique will be in the cards.

[roger wiegand]

I can't really address your questions except to say I've always found transtint to be much easier to use and more controllable when diluted in alcohol rather than water.

If you can spray you could go onto bare wood with as many coats as needed to achieve the color you want. Because the application is uniform there's no opportunity for uneven absorption.

My usual method is to not use a sealer, make a somewhat dilute solution of the dye in alcohol, then flood the surface and blot it dry with paper towels while there is still standing liquid on the surface. Here's an example on curly and birdseye maple.

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[Todd Zucker]

Nice cabinet and hinges.

When I sprayed the leg, it was lots of dark Transtint in a really dilute mixture of shellac and DNA. I thought it would dry fairly fast like it did on the flat surfaces I used for practice so that I could build the color over several coats. Just like Jeff Jewett in his videos, right? But when I sprayed the front of the leg, which was laying horizontally, it ran down the sides and left a dark black streak from the top to bottom of each leg that dried before I could turn and wet the sides. Seems like the dye wanted to concentrate along the “high water” mark. Had to sand forever to start from scratch. I just don’t have the skill yet to spray properly.

If I pre-wet and then flood it with a concentrated enough water/Transtint mix that I know from the samples will get me the right color, the water solution should give me enough time to get the whole table top and the legs covered and wiped down with a sponge and then blotted without leaving any lines or streaks where the dye dries in place. (I am going to dye it before gluing up the parts). So i would just need to worry about preventing the blotching.

Alcohol should also work but it might dry too fast for me on this piece, as the top is a 3.5’ x 4.5’ oval. I am also thinking the water won’t dissolve or affect the sealcoat.

The apron is going to be birdseye maple. For that, flooding the bare wood without any sealer seems to be working fine, as the blotching is desired.

[John TenEyck]

I've never been a fan of flooding on dye, though Roger's results above show it works. But, like Roger, I usually use TT in DNA when applying it by hand, using a wet but not dripping sponge. I've never had problems with lap marks. However, with blotch prone woods, like maple, I prefer to spray if at all possible, and in that case I usually use water. I've sprayed a LOT of TT in Sealcoat toner, too. Whether as a toner or as dye in water or DNA, the key to spraying is to never spray more than the wood can absorb. If you do the dye or toner will run, and the dye will migrate to both the more absorbent areas resulting in blotching or to the edge of the run and give you ugly high concentration "waves", as you saw on the leg you sprayed.

With maple I'd probably sand to 180 grit, maybe 220, raise the grain and knock it back, and the spray TT in water. I'd spray no more than the wood can absorb almost instantly, determined with test specimens prepared the same way, overlapping my spray passes by about 50% for uniformity. If the test specimens prepared that way still look blotchy then I'd put the TT in Sealcoat cut no more than 50% with DNA and spray that as a toner. After the first toner coat you can spray heavier coats, if needed to get the color you need, without worry of blotchiness, although you still must avoid runs or sags.

John