Wood stain recommendation

Z

Zarthabal

Joined
Jul 13, 2024
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Hi everyone,
After looking at many build logs it’s obvious that wood stains is a great way to get pleasant color contrast between different pieces and to enhance the feel of the wood.
I tried a few water based stains and am disappointed by the fact that they look more like paint.
Since local hardware stores only offer fairly large cans, I want to avoid buying disappointing stuff that will end up never being used.
What stains do you recommend and what is your process for best effect or rendering?
Thanks in advance
 
Zarthabal said:
Hi everyone,
After looking at many build logs it’s obvious that wood stains is a great way to get pleasant color contrast between different pieces and to enhance the feel of the wood.
I tried a few water based stains and am disappointed by the fact that they look more like paint.
Since local hardware stores only offer fairly large cans, I want to avoid buying disappointing stuff that will end up never being used.
What stains do you recommend and what is your process for best effect or rendering?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Hi Zarthabat, if you still are in possession of the diappointing water based stains try filling a container with fresh tap water. Dip a stick into the stain and stir the stick into the water container. You should then see a very tranlucent colour appear. Test that on a piece of timber and you'll find it stains very very lightly and produces an enhanced natural timber colour. Repeat the dip stick/water stirring until you get whatever depth of colour you desire. Water will raise the timber grain which in itself is a good thing because once dry the raised grain can be sanded to a smoother finish prior to being stained. Remember the finer the sanding the lighter the stain colour will result, similarly the coarser the sanding the darker the resulting colour will be. The same as explained can be said when using artists acrylic paints. Wash them out until you get then stain colour most appropriate to your work unless of course you need solid colour that obliterates the substrate timber/wood. Hope this helps and hasn't confused you. :) cheers
 
Hi ConsNZ,
That is a great trick, thank you for sharing! I will try out and report
 
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Wood stains found in hardware and home improvement stores are really a type of paint; a paint pigment suspended in some sort of liquid. The liquid in older stains is linseed oil. The new ones apparently use an acrylic pigment suspended in water. Many woods do not accept these stains. The stain does not penetrate so either gets completely wiped off or selectively stains some areas better than others. A principal market is DIY woodworkers trying to make cheap softwoods look like something that they are not.

A better choice would be a wood dye. In this case the color is in solution with the liquid; often alcohol. These dyes do penetrate the wood. They can be very intense so thinning is required.

The best choice is to either realistically paint your model or build it from from quality woods that don’t require staining.

Roger
 
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