Dye Suprise !!! Help me

[Ben Roman]

Hello all,

I was on a roll this until this happened. Reading Jeff Jewitt book on Finishing I went out and bought some gear to spray my first Dye project. Sanded to 220 raised the grain with water then sanded to 320. Mixed my dye and put it in the detail sprayer I just got yesterday. Sprayed my first back panel as a test wiped up the excess and it came out awesome... Woo hoo Sprayed the door and wooo hoo same results. Now here comes the foul up!

On the crown molding on the case I used wood putty to close the gaps and fix boo boo's cause I sucked at getting them to line up properly. Well when I sprayed them with the dye they turned UGLY gray !!!!! UGH:mad: Tell me I do not have to start over ?? How can I save the piece can i cover it somehow ??

Need the Pro's on this one ... That includes TOD ;) !!

Ben

[Howard Acheson]

Filler or wood putty will never color the same as the surrounding wood. Most finishers will first apply the first coat of stain and finish and then will use a filler or putty. That way you can buy a putty that is the color of the wood.

At this point, you will have to sand off all the area that did not color properly. Feather the sanding into the unfilled area. Be sure to use the same grit sandpaper as you used originally. Now stain the areas as needed. I would use a rag or foam brush and have a clean rag in your other hand. Apply and wipe immediately. Keep doing that feathering in the dye to the dyed area. Once you have it even, apply your first coat of clear coat. Now get some filler and fill the spots that need it. Then apply your final clear coats.

[Ben Roman]

Would a Gel Stain over the top of it work??

[Ben Roman]

any other suggestions??

[Mitchell Andrus]

Adjust your finish schedule to include 'repairing' the affected area. As you go through the finishing process, dye, stain, touch-up on-the-fly. Practice faux-graining and touch up the grain to match.

Most good production line finishers keep thier jobs based on thier ability to rescue assembly line mishaps.

Mitch

[Steve Schoene]

You can't tell if a dye "has come out awful" until you have applied a top coat, or have simulated the effect by a wipe with mineral spirits.

But, filler on the surface of the crown molding just isn't going to ever look right, unless you paint the surface or use such heavy gel stain as to have the same effect. My suggestion is to redo the crown molding. either by sanding off all the filler on the surface, or by remaking the molding. You have likely invested a lot of time and materials in this project and to settle for an inferior finish that hides the wood would be a shame.

It might be possible to get an acceptible look with pigment powders for the color and then painting and texturing in any grain features. Frankly, the learning curve in getting this to look good takes long enough that you could replace the crown molding in less time.

When you asked to be told you didn't need to start over you really knew the answer to that question.

[Ben Roman]

You are correct. I just did not want to hear it !

Thanks

Ben

[Jim Becker]

Ben, if you re-do the molding and have similar fitting problems...DON'T use putty. Use slivers of wood from scraps of the same stock and matched to the grain direction to fill any gaps. They will be much less noticable, if not invisible, once you procede to your finish. (I like to use a miter sled on the TS to cut this kind of molding to insure "exact" complimentary angles for no gaps whenever possible)

[Jerry Olexa]

I don't know of any filler or putty that will take the stain and match the adjoining wood. In this case, you might try a glaze over just those areas and blend it in. You'll have to mix your color of glaze by hand to get best match