Staining poplar and accentuating sapwood contrast

[mark mcfarlane]

I'm building some built in cabinets with a Maple face frame and poplar drawer fronts. I want a nice contrast between the light, clear coated maple and poplar which will be stained/dyed darker, and also want to distinctly preserve the contrast between the poplar sapwood and heartwood.

Any tips for preserving the sapwood contrast when I go with a fairly dark dye/stain?

I was thinking of testing arm-r-seal on the maple, and putting GF American Oak gel stain over a coat of seal-a-cell for the poplar.

Cheers,

[Jim Becker]

I use dye with poplar...it's close grained an any kind of pigment stain isn't going to do much for it. That said, try what you want to do on scrap first!!! Always!!! Multiple times, even, as you work things out so it looks the way you want it to.

[John TenEyck]

I normally see things pretty similarly to Jim, but I have to disagree about poplar and pigment stains. Poplar takes pigment stains great, although it has a nasty habit of blotching. Where I live, poplar is often said to be the poor man's walnut, because it can be stained to look just like it. It also will look just like cherry if stained as such. BUT, staining poplar dark will diminish the contrast in it, not preserve it. I'm not sure, but I think the contrast will get diminished whether you stain it or dye, but the only way to find out is to try both options on some scrap and see what looks best to you. My guess is that a uniformly sprayed on dye will give you the greatest contrast.

John

[mark mcfarlane]

... BUT, staining poplar dark will diminish the contrast in it, not preserve it. ....

John

Part of my reason for wanting to stain darker is to get rid of the green undertone of the heartwood. The second is to increase the contrast with the unstained maple.

[Pete Staehling]

Part of my reason for wanting to stain darker is to get rid of the green undertone of the heartwood. The second is to increase the contrast with the unstained maple.

FWIW, I find a very light application of reddish stain (cherry) tones down the green without darkening the color too much.

[Jim Becker]

Part of my reason for wanting to stain darker is to get rid of the green undertone of the heartwood. The second is to increase the contrast with the unstained maple.

The green will go away naturally with oxidation...and it doesn't take a long time, either for that reaction. The greenish tone only appears on fresh cut tulip poplar. Please note that I'm not talking about mineral staining which will always be obvious...just the greenish heartwood when fresh cut.

[Mike Henderson]

Part of my reason for wanting to stain darker is to get rid of the green undertone of the heartwood. The second is to increase the contrast with the unstained maple.

The green of poplar will turn brown fairly quickly. As far as coloring it, I would add some color to the finish and spray that. The poplar I've worked with does not take a dark stain very well.

The wood supplier I go to used to carry lyptus, which is a light colored wood without much figure. I was talking with a professional finisher at the wood place and he commented that he could make lyptus look like just about any wood. I suppose he could do the same with poplar.

Another wood that is used around here to look like almost any other wood is basswood.

Mike

[Jim Becker]

Alder is also popular for "mimic" work including faux cherry. I've done the cherry thing with poplar and even simulated pine with poplar that contained knots. Since I have a ton of it from off our property due to septic projects, it gets used a lot.

[mark mcfarlane]

Thanks everyone for the help.

How long until the greenish cast goes away? I have a few pieces sitting in my shop for 2 weeks that are still pretty green, although not as green as some I bought this past week. Will applying an oil varnish stop the 'turn to brown' process, or just slow it down a lot?