Uneven Stain Absorption- Question of the Week

April 17, 2007 | Filed Under Blog, Question of the Week 

This week’s question comes from Robert. He writes:

When staining soft maple Kitchen doors and drawers from a millworks shop the painter applied a special walnut stain directly to the raw wood. The stain did not take well on wood milled with the grain, and on cross cuts the stain soaked into the wood giving a dark black color. How do we prevent the cross cut problem and promote a uniform acceptance of the stain.

And here was my reply:

“Hey Robert. Uneven staining can be a real pain. There are a few things you can do to even things out in the future. First, you should sand the end-grain to one or two grits higher than the rest of the piece. So if the piece is sanded to 180, you should sand the endgrain to 220 or 320. The finer sanding will help prohibit stain absorption. Another technique is to apply a glue size to the endgrain. Make a 10:1 mixture of water and yellow or white glue. Brush this solution onto the endgrain and give it several hours to dry. Once dry, sand lightly and proceed with staining. The embedded glue will prevent excessive stain absorption. You can also use a light coat of shellac or any sealer to the same end. And remember to always test on scrap or inconspicuous areas to ensure you get the look you are after. Hope these ideas help.”

Comments

6 Responses to “Uneven Stain Absorption- Question of the Week”

  1. Rick Corbitt on April 18th, 2007 6:10 am

    For another option, I’ve found a light coat of Watco’s natural Danish Oil will help with this blotching problem common with open grain woods. I believe your answer to the endgrain may be the only way to fix that, however.

  2. Jerry on April 18th, 2007 7:56 am

    Marc, your answer concentrated on end-grain. I have had similar uneven absorption problems when staining face-grain of maple. I would be interested in your comments on face-grain problems.

    Thanks

  3. thewoodwhisperer on April 18th, 2007 8:09 am

    Good point. Uneven absorption in face grain can be prevented by using a light sealer coat of de-waxed shellac (1/2-1 lb cut). There are also commercial conditioners that do a decent job although I never really use them. Now if you plan on adding color (which is usually where the absorption issues show up), you should try spraying dye if you can. Thats the ultimate solution. If you cant spray, then try using a gel stain. Gel stains don’t absorb quite as much as a regular stain and will help prevent major blotchiness.

    For the average person, a shellac sealer and gel stain are a g solid method. Just experiment on scrap to get the right balance of shellac. Too much will not let the stain absorb at all.

  4. thewoodwhisperer on April 18th, 2007 8:23 am

    Posted for Wally.
    I have also found that applying boiled linseed oil to the end grain of almost any kind of wood retards the absorption of an oil-based stain. You just have to apply the stain while the oil is still wet otherwise the dried linseed oil may prevent you from getting the desired hue to match the rest of the stained piece.

    If you’re a bit skittish about how much stain will be absorbed, try wiping the stain off after a minute and check the result. If it’s too light just apply another coat of stain and keep repeating this process until you match the tone of the rest of the wood.

    I also experimented with a latex-based stain and boiled linseed oil on the end grain and was pleased with the results. This experiment was done with pine so I have no idea how it will work with other species of wood.

  5. Ethan on April 30th, 2007 9:32 pm

    Mark,
    I was just reading Bob Flexner’s book on finishing, and he discussed the issue of endgrain staining darker in one section.

    But he said you don’t really have to sand any HIGHER grits than what you sanded the long grain, you just have to sand it BETTER. He said the whole process of end grain getting darker than long grain is because it isn’t sanded as smoothly, so it takes the stain more readily.

    He demonstrated with pictures, showing that sanding the endgrain to the same grit, but sanding it longer to smooth it better, produced a finished piece that did not stain any darker than the long grain.

    I haven’t yet had a chance to give it a try, but I wondered if you’d read that and what your thoughts were on his process.

    Anything that saves me from having to jump up one or two more grits is worth trying, in my book.

    Ethan

  6. ANDRE HUNT on July 12th, 2007 7:34 am

    IT would be very helpful if some of the wood webs had some info on refinishing guitars. I don’t mean the coating of paint and lacqer, but having to sand down a spruce or mahogony finish due to 60 years of pick abuse and heavy lacquer cracking. I just finished sanding down a Kay Kraft from the 1930’s, but the trick is to try to match up the subtle deep flaming from the original..having the center area lighter and the edges going pretty dark. Usually a dark mahogony. Uneven staining is alive and well in this situation, but deep dark staining is also needed, which may not work if the wood is pretreated for uneven staining. Right now I’m looking at some raised grain after staining, and some uneveness..wondering if I can combine some steel wool work to remove just some uneveness and more stain around the edge…also, that deep glow from lacquer coating….most guys aren’t set up at home for spraying, but tung oil layers aftere a single linseed coating have a great look, but don’t expect the magic till after the 6th or 7th coating….
    Oh, and it was great fun spilling a whole can of deep mahogony onto the kitchen floor right at the end…totally exhausted, then two more hours of cleaning, ruining mops, then half naked scrubbing and sanding walls and floor before the girls got home. No skin left to play the damn thing with.

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