Comments on: 73- Coloring Blotchy Woods

By: thewoodwhisperer

thewoodwhisperer — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:24:40 +0000

Well, shellac will certainly yield a beautiful finish. But poly would be more durable. So its really up to you. Some people just hate the way varnish looks and prefer shellac. Other folks find the shellac isn’t durable enough.

By: Pete

Pete — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:14:28 +0000

Marc – thanks for the help! I’m going to try this on a birch toybox I’m making for my kids. I’m curious what you would recommend for a topcoat? I was thinking of a couple coats of clear shellac, but I’m wondering if a wipe on or sprayed on poly would be a better choice?

By: herb

herb — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:40:02 +0000

Great video, Marc. For me, it cut out just as you were talking about the shelf life of the seal a cell. I tried re-running it, same thing again, no joy. I’m guessing it’s an issue with my computer because I don’t see anyone else mentioning it here. Oh, well.

By: thewoodwhisperer

thewoodwhisperer — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 23:32:26 +0000

Hey Ron. On some woods, dyes will blotch like any other stain. So its not a bad idea to partially seal the surface like I did in this video in an effort to calm down the blotching. But just like you saw in the video, the intensity of the color will decrease after the sealing step, simply because less of the dye is being absorbed.
Now one way to get around this is if you are spraying the dye. It is possible to skip the sealing step and simply spray on very light coats of a dye mixture (toner), and avoid blotching. But you need to have spraying capability.

Now if you apply a dye (alcohol or water) to a raw wood surface, it is still a good idea to seal first if you have a blotch-prone wood. If you have a wood that has no problems accepting color evenly (like oak, for instances), then you can skip the sealing step. This is the case regardless of what topcoat you decide to use. Hope that helps.

By: Ron

Ron — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:04:04 +0000

Marc, two questions about using seal coats and dyes. First, my impression is that you always use dyes before a seal coat. Is this correct or can a seal coat also help reduce blotching before using a dye? Second, if you use water or alcohol dye on raw wood is there any need to seal it if the top coat is a clear oil based finish?

Thanks

By: thewoodwhisperer

thewoodwhisperer — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 03:25:08 +0000

Hey Morton. Basically, I will use shellac to seal in dyes. The idea is that it stabilizes the color and locks it in before you add your topcoat. This by no means is always necessary. But its a good idea when you think your topcoat might moves some of the color around. For instance, a water based dye under a waterbased topcoat. You could very well reactivate the dye and push it around a little. So in most cases, its not a bad idea to seal it in. Most oil-based stains and gel stains are pretty stable once applied to the wood and don’t really NEED any special sealing step. And if Im not mistaken, the GF gel stains might even have poly in them, which helps lock in the color.

By: Michael Morton

Michael Morton — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:20:04 +0000

Marc- thanks for recording the awesome live demo. No matter how many times I watch or hear finishing techniques, I learn more – probably because as you say the confusing products abound!

I’m wondering about a comment you made during the show about putting varnish on top of the shellac/gel stain. When would you (or not) put another layer of shellac between the gel stain and a top coat of varnish?

The layers of shellac below, between or on top of various other applications always confuses me.

Thanks,
Morton++

By: Victor

Victor — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:49:31 +0000

As always, thank you for sharing your experience, skills, time and effort. Hope you and Nicole had a smashing Thanksgiving Holiday!
Victor

By: Ken Phillips

Ken Phillips — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:50:20 +0000

Great Demo Marc, I also use Seal -a-Cell as a base coat and then muliple coats of Arm-R-Seal. I started using that when I read it was David Marks’ favorite finish. I have alway had good results with it. I’ll give this finish from your demo a try. I will say it seems the more I read on finsihing the more confused I get. But this seems pretty straight forward and easy to use. Good Job.

By: thewoodwhisperer

thewoodwhisperer — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:56:48 +0000

Hey Richard. Give a little squirt of the CO2 and see what happens. While not an inert gas, it is still heavier than air and should displace the oxygen-containing air.

Hey Robert. Just to clarify, you are talking about two different types of finishes. SealCoat is indeed dewaxed shellac. Arm-R-Seal is an oil-based urethane varnish. And yes, many folks believe that wax in shellac can cause problems for topcoats like Arm-R-Seal.