Replies

1. 
   CStanford_ | May 17, 2001 11:34pm | #1

   *
   Dip a cloth in the stain and rag it on.

1. 
   Sgian_Dubh | May 18, 2001 12:36am | #2

   *Gifford, what carrying medium is the dye dissolved in, water, oil or spirit (alcohol)? Advice might vary to suit the type of dye. Sliante, RJ.

1. 
   Gifford_Saravia | May 18, 2001 04:54am | #3

   *I have purchased water based dye. Its the Thomas Moser brand from woodworkers supply. Gifford

1. 
   Sgian_Dubh | May 18, 2001 05:34am | #4

   *In that case unless you have a spray gun with stainless steel parts probably your best approach is to use a brush or rag, which I think is a better method anyway for water based dyes. I prefer brush application just because it suits my technique and the trick is to keep a 'live edge' so as to avoid streakiness, or lap marks, or tide marks, all of which essentially describe the same thing. A live edge is an edge not allowed to dry out before you go back over it with another brushful of dye. Another trick you can use for such things as intricately barred doors for example is to make a shallow tray filled with dye, screw a couple of hooks to an inconspicuous spot in the doors frame, dunk in the door, lift it out, and hang it up. Whether you brush, dunk, or get the dye on by other means you need to wipe off the excess dye with clean dry rags fairly quickly after application to ensure it dries evenly and without concentrated dye accumulating on edges and so on. You can do both sides of a table top quickly by putting four screws into the underside, dye the bottom, wipe off, flip over immediately, and dye and wipe off the top. With open grained timbers like oak, mahogany, or walnut the dye can fail to penetrate the open grain due to surface tension in the water, and a brush is quite good at forcing the dye in by breaking the surface tension- you can keep working the dye with a brush. A short answer, but hopefully enough to get you on your way. Follow the old maxim though; try a test piece or two first to get the feel for the job. Sliante, RJ.

1. 
   Gifford_Saravia | May 18, 2001 05:48am | #5

   *Thanks, The order is supposed to come in tommorow. I'll let you know how it went. Gifford

2. 
   Sgian_Dubh | May 18, 2001 06:48am | #6

   *I've just remembered that you're dyeing Cherry. Cherry can have a bit of a tendency to blotch, so I'd definitely do some test pieces first using offcuts from your b actual job to see how it turns out. Personally I can't say I've had too many problems using dyes on cherry, but others seem to report unsatisfactory results. I guess it depends on what results you're looking for. Sliante, RJ.

3. 
   Sgian_Dubh | May 18, 2001 06:30pm | #7

   *And I forgot to mention the following also; thinking in shorthand can cause those errors, sorry. It will be a good idea to raise the grain prior to staining by using a cloth dampened with hot water. Go over the whole surface, let it dry, and lightly re-sand smooth by hand with about 180- 220 grit, then stain. This raising the grain applies to all water based finishing processes in higher to premium quality woodworking by the way. Sliante, RJ.

4. 
   Gifford_Saravia | May 18, 2001 10:53pm | #8

   *Thanks, I will let you know. Gifford