finish question

[Mike Jones NM]

Working on a little box, the top which will be made of glued up strips of alternating cedar and maple.
Once I get them all glued up I need to run it through the planer one final time.
Problem is that I like a different finish on each wood so I really need to finish each strip before I glue it and plane it. So how deep do most stains go? If I do this will I loose the finish once I remove a 32nd of an inch or so in the plane?

[Tim Sproul]

Working on a little box, the top which will be made of glued up strips of alternating cedar and maple.
Once I get them all glued up I need to run it through the planer one final time.
Problem is that I like a different finish on each wood so I really need to finish each strip before I glue it and plane it. So how deep do most stains go? If I do this will I loose the finish once I remove a 32nd of an inch or so in the plane?


Almost for certain you cannot send the pieces through the thickness planer and expect any stain/dye or other finish to remain. I haven't actually measured but given the ease with which I've 'erased' a finish using an ROS....I'd say 1/128 of an inch would be generous.

I'd work hard on developing a way to glue up the strips perfectly flush....or perhaps you could apply the strips as veneer? Stain one side of the strips....run the veneer strips through the drum sander with the stained side down to ensure all are equal thickness and then press veneer strips onto substrate with the stained side up?

[Jim Becker]

You can only do even minimal sanding after putting on a stain/dye, so count on the planer to completely remove it! Perhaps you can do your final glue up using cauls or platens so you get a perfectly even face that doesn't need to be surfaced on the top. (any further reduction in thickness could then be taken on the back.

[Larry Fox]

Another thing that you need to consider when applying different stains to adjacent pieces is one bleeding into the other. I think it will be difficult to get a crisp seperation. Another option might be, although this changes your design, is to do your glue-up, plane it down, cut a very narrow (1/32) groove between the pieces, do your staining, and install a contrasting piece of string inlay once the stain has dried. GENTLY scrape the inlay flush and then topcoat. Don't know if that works for your design though.