Hi! first time posting as well as my first time staining a wood project, I am making a bench for my mudroom, I used aspen wood and early american wood stain from minwax. I don’t really love how the stain turned out with all the dark blotchy areas on the left board specifically, I have redone it once already with the same result. I sanded from coarse to fine (220 and one pass at 400) with the grain. I also applied a wood conditioner before staining following the directions on the can. My question is what are my options, would a dye stain or a gel stain have a better look? Do i need to resand again or Is this salvageable? Or is that just what I can expect from the type of wood I chose. Any help or advice is appreciated! Thanks all!!
the first photo is of my first go, second is after i removed all the stain and resanded.
Replies
Some woods just don't take stain evenly. Haven't worked with Aspen, but it may be one of them. First thing to try is to sand a scrap piece no higher than 120 grit and staining that. Stains rely on pigment to provide the color, and when you sand to too high a grit, the surface can be so smooth that the pigment particles can't be retained evenly on the wood. Another thing to try would be to use a wood dye instead of stain. A third option is to seal the wood with a coat or two of dewaxed shellac and then use something like transtint dye mixed into whatever you will be using to topcoat the piece. This will act as a toner rather than a stain, and will give you a more even coloration.
I also don't think it looks so bad, but then it is about what I would expect from a soft wood. If it is not what you expected or wanted, then I understand why you wouldn't like it. I'm with Carbide in that if you sand it back to 120 or 150 and then re-stain, you might induce the harder wood to hold more pigment and this would reduce the contrast some. It will never look perfectly even colored unless you paint it. I think that this process will work best if you use a firm faced sanding block working by hand with the grain.
I'm assuming that you used something like an orbital sander with a somewhat soft pad behind the sandpaper. If so, when you rub your hand across the surface, it is likely rather ripply. This is due to the soft sander working more on the soft wood than the harder grain. By using a firm sanding block by hand it will ensure that the sanding process works on just the lighter hard wood and leave the darker soft wood mostly alone. Hopefully, when more stain is applied, the newly roughened hard wood will hold more stain color and the overall appearance will be more even.
If that doesn't work to your satisfaction then again, as Carbide suggested, tint your topcoat finish product and, with multiple coats, the whole surface will get darker and more even. This works best if you can spray it on.
Bilyo and Carbide gave excellent advice.
To me it looks like figured wood, similar to something like curly and doesn't look all that bad to me. I'd try a top coat and see what it looks like then, you can always sand it back down.
There are various ways to pre-condition wood to minimize blotching such as sealers, wash coat of shellac, etc.
I think you're best bet as a beginner is use an oil like Danish oil available in different tints. Its practically the most bomb proof finish there is.
A few things to know about oil: don't sand past 180 to ensure good penetration, apply it liberally, let it dry 72 hours before applying another coat or topcoat.
I think it looks good too. Folks pay a premium for figured wood.
First, I think it looks good. If it is not what you had in mind chalk it up to a lesson in choosing materials. I'm sure the figure on the board was visible in it's "naked" state. A better approach (to me) than staining is to choose material that has the color and grain you have in mind for the piece. If you are looking for a golden hue choose a golden wood.
To my Pop "mahogany" came in a yellow can. If you are going to put in the time and effort to make something for your home you should approach selecting materials with at least as much care as you invest in the joinery. Spending extra for the lumber is usually worth it.
Yes. The only things I add color to are curly and bupirdseye maple. If I want a mahogany color, I use mahogany. And so on.
We make relatively few things, really, in our lifetimes. Using the best materials we can should be central to what we build.
In addition to the color and species, I'll add width of boards. Starting out, I made a few things that had too many pieces glued up to make a panel. I strive to use single boards, and two if necessary.
We're worth it, right?
I'm not familiar with Aspen but I use plywood a lot. 1st thing I do is sand raw wood with 220 to knock off surface splinters. That also shows up harder spots that resist finishes creating blotches.
Next, I fill the pores. The reason is to even out the surface. To stray, there are plenty of good sources for pore filling info. My favorite is on Wood Magazine's site, complete with pore filler resources.
It's a sloppy process but well worth it. Even plywood comes out with an even, smooth surface. This might work for you if you want to dedicate the time. On the other hand, the wood's for a mudroom, not a show place.
Good luck with your efforts.
Mikaol
As helpful as this forum can be at times I think it can be confusing for new woodworkers as well. I think part of this stems from the fact that most Woodworking tasks can be accomplished several different ways, and we all have our favorite. The other things is and it applies in this case is pictures don't always tell the whole story when it comes to problems like yours, but I will throw my 2 cents worth of knowledge out there for you to use as you see fit.
Full disclosure: as an east coast woodworker for 40+ years both professionally and as a hobbyist, I confess to never having worked with aspen, although I believe it is related to our eastern poplar. Here in the east poplar is mostly resigned to paint grade projects and or used for unseen structural components, like cleats or sometimes drawer boxes. Although on occasion I've seen it stained with some success. This brings me to my first suggestion; choose the right wood for the results you hope to achieve, staining wood is always a bit unpredictable and to this day I still get a knot in my stomach as I start to apply stain to a project I have weeks of labor invested in.
The second suggestion I have for you is based on what I see from the picture to be a panel glued up from 3-4 boards. One of the glaring issues I see with the panel is that the 2 outer boards appear to have some figure similar to curly maple while the center board does not creating an even more haphazard appearance. A good practice is to wipe boards down with mineral spirits before glue up, this tends to reveal hidden grain patterns and figure before you glue up and get surprised. This may have let you see a more pleasing way to layout the boards before glue up or caused you to reject a particular board in advance which is always better than discovering an unattractive board when the project is almost complete.
The third item I will mention is always do test boards when working with an unfamiliar wood and or finishing processes. It's much better to learn on some thing other than your finished project.
So much for the teaching moment to avoid problems in the future now to the problem at hand, fixing the board you have.
The idea of sanding a little coarser could help, but I would be skeptical of the advice to use 120 maybe 180. My fear is most "random orbit sanders" aren't all that random and swirls marks could become noticeable as they fill with pigments, but try on some scrap and see if you like the results. The surest way to conceal splotchy grain is to avoid pigmented semi-penetrating stains altogether and focus more on materials that tend to sit on the surface more. One option are gel stains, readily available and somewhat easy to use, or so they say, I've just never been a huge fan. Being thicker they won't penetrate as much and could help you even out the color, but practice on some scraps first.
The idea of glazes or toners is somewhat advanced finishing, but they work wonders in experienced hands and could be worth a try but I only use them as a sprayed finish where I can easily control the depth of color needed in areas to balance the color. I don't know how you could do that with a brush.
You might get a better result from using a tinted finish like Watco walnut Danish Oil, if it's too dark you should be able to blend it with standard Watco Danish Oil to lighten it some, but again do test boards until you achieve the results you are happy with.
That's one of the attractions of woodworking - there are almost always several approaches to every task. Working out the one that best achieves our goal - and is within out capabilities and resources is the challenge.
I am in the finishing stage of a project where I have many, many hours of hand work invested, not to mention several hundred $ in materials. Toady I will stop by Rockler's and pick up yet another type finish - the 4th approach. The last got me almost where I want to go, but that lure of perfection is strong.
That said, I stopped using stains about 15 years ago and now stick with dyes exclusively. With dyes, I can enhance grain, even on maple, I can easily blend colors, I can dilute to get minimum color change, I can add color in steps, I can remove some by wiping with alcohol. I tend to get much more even color. I can brush it (don't like it), I can pad it or I can spray it. I can tint finishes. Even at $20 per 2 oz. it becomes much more economical by making 2 quarts, which goes a looong way. Oh, it doesn't
settle and become a solid clump in the bottom of the can in a couple of years. I'm sure others have equally valid opinions against dyes, but, again, that's the challenge of woodworking.
For your next project keep dyes in mind.
A suggestion: keep notes on your progress and photograph each project, organize them into a notebook and you can look back with pleasure some day as you realize how much you have learned through the years.
I appreciate all of your help and kind words! I feel much better about it after all that you have said, I guess I just didn't expect that figured appearance. I am going to attempt to sand back down and use a gel stain instead. I don't so much mind the pattern it created just the contrast is greater than I had hoped. If this doesn't work out I'll take it as a lesson learned in wood choice and general prep and change my wood all together. Again I appreciate everyone's help! I'll post the final product here when it's complete!
Good Luck
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