Staining wood?

[Jgoal55]

Well as some of you know I have to get to staining my stand and canopy. I don't have the canopy yet bc the carpenter I'm working lost power at his warehouse for 2 days.

Anyway, just wondering what some of your preferred methods were.

Brush? Foam brush? Sponge? Etc.

Also, do you stain then varnish, laquer, sanding sealer? Etc.

Thx.

 

[Piranha_Owns]

I use foam brushes with minwax golden oak stain, and minwax clear gloss fast drying polyurethane.

 

[reef2]

what kind of wood is it?

 

[Jgoal55]

Some birch, mostly maple. And I've decided to go with a dark cherry stain.

 

[Ludwigia73]

Main advice I can give is stay away from stain and clear coat in one step. Never ends up as good as I hope. I get great finishes out of fruitwood, colonial maple, etc... as for dark, I've never liked any dark I've seen, so I always mix myself. Walnut, fruitwood, and red mahogany are always a good combination. Followed with a polyeurethane. Now that I have a spray gun, I'm re-doing my rudder on my boat. Pics to follow.

 

[reef2]

maple is a hard wood to stain. id sand sealer it first and give it a good sanding b4 staining to open up the pores of the wood to accept the stain better. i always use a old rag to apply, let sit for a few then smooth out the stain. i use spar urethane after for a nice lasting finish.

 

[Ludwigia73]

56 Gallon column tank

rudder

you can kindof see the grain on my old 18gal

 

[Ludwigia73]

Oh, and in my opinion, you can't beat varnish for final finish, but you really need a decent place to apply it, and it takes quite a while to dry. Cetol gives a great finish, but spar is a great alternative.

 

[drpo21]

hmm, be careful with the staining, I messed my woodworking up after spending a lot of hard work and time, by staining pine and letting it sit too long. Now its ruined.

Another thing I noticed is that having two different types of woods will stain differently. If it were up to me again, I would have a professional do the staining. good luck

 

[Jgoal55]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15655524#post15655524 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drpo21
hmm, be careful with the staining, I messed my woodworking up after spending a lot of hard work and time, by staining pine and letting it sit too long. Now its ruined.

Another thing I noticed is that having two different types of woods will stain differently. If it were up to me again, I would have a professional do the staining. good luck

LOL....trust me, Ive thought about it. Im a little worried about screwing up.

That said, I stained some wood in college and it came out ok but I dont remember if it was great and I definitely want this to be great. This furniture is way too nice to screw it up.

Ludwigia, those look like nice stain jobs.....are Cetol and Spar brands of varnish? I have to do this indoors so as far a decent place goes I only have my living room. That said, Im not living there yet so its not like i have to breathe the vapors for 24hrs.

the one thing I know for sure is that I dont really want a really shiny/glossy finish. I prefer a duller look although a semi gloss may be nice.....Im going to use a sample piece of wood to see which one i like best.

Reef2: Ive heard quite a few ppl say to use sanding sealer and others say not to. As for the sanding, do you do it by hand or with an electrical sander? I was thinking of using 240 grit.

 

[drpo21]

I would sand everything as good as possible. when I did the doors for my stand, I sanded it to 400 grit. the stain was muchhh more even. I would think maple would be easier than pine. I've seen your stand on here, really nice work

 

[reef2]

id sand by hand u dont want to leave any swirls or what not if the tool gets out of hand.

u may also want to look into a process called water popping b4 staining. its used alot on hardwood floors so the stain will take more evenly.

 

[iamwrasseman]

we build fifty units a year and i have been using a spray bottle for my stain and it really works great . i will admitt that you do have some waste but it take about six to ten minutes for a stand and three to do a canopy then we let it set for ten minutes and whipe off . twenty four hours later poly , we use minwax and it really works well 4 coats and sand between each coat .sounds easy and it really is but you have to put less poly on than more to avoid runs .
good luck

 

[Jgoal55]

I love the ida of spraying but since im doing it indoors it kind of worries me.......next thing I know my walls and floors will be stained....lol

You use 4 coats of poly???

reef, checked out water popping but doesnt sounds too hard but they say only to do it if necessary.....gonna try it on a spare piece of wood see how it looks.

 

[iamwrasseman]

sealed up better than a pool with 4 coats yes indeed

 

[Jgoal55]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15655138#post15655138 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jgoal55
Some birch, mostly maple. And I've decided to go with a dark cherry stain.

So much for that idea.....lol

after trying 9 different stains I finally found the color I wanted by mixing 2 diff stains. This was like 3 days ago. Ive now tried the stain using various diff methods on an spare piece of the wood. I think it looks best when applied using an old tshirt, then wiping off after about 10minutes. I sanded with 320grit prior to applying. 1 coat of the stain seems to have worked well though Im going to try another coat tomorrow on top just to see.

Also, 1 coat of a semi gloss poly achieved the look I wanted.....again going to try another coat tomorrow. well see....

 

[iamwrasseman]

when you only put one coat of poly on the wood you will notice that the wood "raises"in some areas and becomes rough .if you lightly sand and apply a second coat there will be a great difference .we do the third and fourth and the grain is completely smooth like the top of a bar .really looks great but i would at least suggest a second coat ,it will be so much better .just make sure that you dont sand through the first coat ,just a light scuffing is required with about 320 grit paper.

 

[Jgoal55]

good to know...your right...definitely lookd better with the second coat of poly AND stain that I applied today....im sure with proper drying times itll look even better

 

[ninjamini]

ADVICE: Get a piece of the wood thats scrap and stain that first. Dont have a scrap? But a board of the same wood. $10 in wood can save you a blotchy looking stand.

Pratice first.

 

[Jgoal55]

yeah thanks...thats what I started testing on.