Newbie question

[Jimmy Williams]

LOML has me making some carved reindeer for Christmas presents. They have been carved out of 2x4's and then stained and followed up with two coats of poly. My question is how do I keep the stain from getting on certain areas? Mainly I want to keep the feet stain free so I can sign and date the pieces. I tried being careful and also applying a piece of tape over the areas but the stain still gets on there. Should I sign and then apply the poly to the feet first and then stain and poly the rest or is there a finishing trick that I am missing?

Thanks for the help.

[Bob Childress]

The bad news is, stain penetrates wood fibers. Period. And it follows the fibers through the wood. And especially soft wood like 2 x 4s. If you stuck a 2 X 4 in a bucket of stain halfway up, the top end grain would show stain in a day or two, maybe less.

One solution is to paint them. Another is to figure out a way to sign them over the top of the stain, before the poly. You can try some liquid masking tape (available at art and hobby stores) but I am not optimistic that you can block it 100%. :(

[Robert Goodwin]

You could stain the whole piece, then route/drill out an area and inlay a unstained piece with your signature. Simular to how some folks inlay a coin or something.

[Jim Becker]

Along the same lines as Robert's suggestion is to carve a score line between the different color areas to act as a physical barrier. You'll want a little more than a knife cut, however, and a little deeper for best results. Think of it as a shadow line...