Stainers, Lend Me Your Ear!

[Todah Tear]

This question involves the issue of staining wood. I made some wooden gifts for my students this spring. The gifts were made of pin wood. I encountered a problem when I tried to stain them using two different colors of stain. I could not keep the stain in one area from bleeding into the adjacent area.

When trying to stain a pattern on wood,using two different stains, Is There a Trick to Preventing One Stain from Bleeding Into Another Area?

Thanking you in advance,

Todah

[dsmith]

Todah,
That's a tough one. When staining woods that have different densities with in the same wood such as pine, try using a sanding sealer before staining. It wont prevent bleeding but minimizes it. I'm not sure what your objective is but another trick is using anayline dye and shellac, seal the wood with clear shellac first then using the dye you can tint subsequent coats to acheive the desired effect. The best way to achieve patterns is inlay using veneers of different species.

[aggie79]

I second the sanding sealer suggestion. After that stain/tint the lighter color, apply sealer or other finish, stain/tint the darker color, & finish how you like.

[Micro469]

Just curious.... What would the result be if you used an exacto knife to cut along the line you want to separate before you stained? You wouldn't see the slice after finishing, but might stop the bleed......

[kennyrayandersen]

The clear, whether is be finish or sealer, will also bleed to the stain side. As stated this is pretty hard to do. If I want some kind of contrast I always choose two different woods, then hit it with some type of natural finish.

[Micro469]

So... Was our input helpful?

[Todah Tear]

So... Was our input helpful?

Yes, your inputs have been helpful. My intent was to take a picture of the wooden gift to show you what I was trying to accomplish and attach it to my response, but I haven't snapped the picture yet. I will try to do it tonight.

What I eventually did was to buy some Sharpe pens and outline the shapes to hide the part of the stain that ran. Even the Sharpe (fine points) ran to a certain degree ...but I was thinking that there had to be a better way especially if a person wanted to do something large. One of my co-workers who does wooden sculptures suggested using an exacto knife to create a micro valley for the stain to run into.

I intend to try all of the suggested techniques on little pieces of pine though. I'll let you know when I hit a technique that minimizes the running.

Thank you,

Todah (I'll get the picture posted soon.)

[Todah Tear]

Here is the piece that I tried to stain 2 dif colors. I would have preferred that the lines wouldn't have been so pronounced, but I had to use a Sharpe pen to cover the stain that ran.




Todah

[caseydog]

Using an exacto knife to score your shape before stainting can help. Pine is really soft, though, so it will soak up stain and bleed like a sponge.

You might try using a glaze instead of a stain. Glaze will sit on the surface, especially if you seal the wood first. But, like a stain, it will let the wood grain show through.

http://www.sherwin-williams.com/oem/us/ ... ood_glaze/

CD

[kennyrayandersen]

the only way to get a really sharp edge is to eliminate the porousness of the wood which means completely sealing it. At that point the darker color is basically paint, no? otherwise, wood is wood.

[Todah Tear]

When you say "seal it" first do you paint it first with something like Helmen Spars Urethane or Polyurethane? If so, that would not let the color down into the wood grain and the color stain would act like paint.
If that is the case, then I will have to try the Glaze option next time because I do like having the woodgrain showing through the color.

Thanks you guys for your help.

Todah

[madjack]

Todah, do a google search for "sanding sealer" and do a little reading...I really believe this is answer to your problem...
madjack

[Todah Tear]

Todah, do a google search for "sanding sealer" and do a little reading...I really believe this is answer to your problem...
madjack

I took your advise and it was educational. Thanks!

Todah