Help. Finishing a Birch Drum Shell (Blotchy Stain)
Bojangles1594
| Posted in Finishing on
Hello Everyone!
I want to add a Varathane oil-based wood stain to my 7-ply Birch drum shell.
A drum building forum told me to start at 320 grit and finish with 400.
I started with 320 then realized this advice seemed to contradict other instructions I’ve read for applying oil stains.
Is it possible because using 240 grits or lower will sand through the 1st ply? The 1st ply is just above 1/32″ and it seems that I may have sanded more on one side of the shell (see pictures).
I feel like I’ve put myself in a tricky situation. Any advice on how to continue with this project?
Thanks in advance!
Replies
Also, I would like to remove as much of the orange paint residue as possible before staining.
That orange might be a bit of an issue.... Always tough to sand veneer.
I have sanded finer than the recommended grits and used stain. But, gotten much better results with dyes at about any grit.
No matter what it'll be a delicate balance between too coarse a grit and sanding through, and too fine a grit and not getting good stain results.
Sorry I don't have a better answer...
If that shell was painted a solid orange I would think you've gone far enough that the jet black stain will overpower it. It should look like a grain variation at the worst. Pigment stains are largely surface deposits.
Don't go so fine with the sanding that you burnish the wood. Birch won't hold much stain if it's been "polished", the pores need to be open. Blow or vac it really well before staining and don't use a conditioner or sealer.
A dye would be far more transparent.
The final color intensity of Oil based stain or gel stain will depend on the sanding pattern on woods such as birch. Anything over 150 grit will not hold much stain, 120 grit is about what will work best.
I don't have an easy answer for you. Are you hoping to see the grain through the stain on that not very attractive rotary cut veneer? If not, why not use tinted lacquer? Full opacity, thin coats, beautiful gloss or satin finish. One other thought, such a small drum would be an easy project for veneering. You could chose any wood species you'd like, it would be simple to apply, you wouldn't have to worry about the existing veneer's color or sand-through, and the edges will be covered by the hoops. One last thing (I promise), I sprayed my son's DIY maple snare drum years ago. I wrongly assumed I wouldn't need to use enough sanding sealer or top coats to fill the tiny pores in maple (we were going for that glass smooth surface), but I was wrong. I really had to sand the 1st 2 coats more than I expected to fill the pores. Good luck and let us know how it went.
Well, I finally stained the shell (used an Ebony and a Navy stain) but i can't say I'm excited about the results.
Apparently, birch gets real blotchy when staining. As you can see, there are parts of the shell that either absorbed too much or none at all. I don't know if this is just because of the birch or if I sanded the shell incorrectly.
Initially, I was gonna add this Wood Grain Enhancer after I stained the shell, but now I want to add some dye to try and add more color. Is this a reasonable solution? I couldn't find anything about using stain and a dye together. Feel like they'd interfere with each other. I wanted to avoid spraying any paint on, but would if necessary. I'd still like to use the grain enhancer; I think the black grain would look cool with a fade.
I'm real interested to hear what you guys think!
Thanks in advance!
As pointed out above, there is a tradeoff between blotches and rich colour. I usually hand sand 400, 1000, and then 2000 for birch. I have zero staining blotches because, as mentioned above, the wood is burnished. The colour is not as rich, but I prefer zero blotches. Perhaps try sanding 400 and then 800? Maybe that will be a happy medium.
The blotches are not just random discoloration, they are the grain of the wood. If you "enhance" the wood grain you'll "enhance" the blotches.
Thanks everyone! Right now I am thinking about getting a spray gun and using dye to add more color.
I was gonna sand finer to remove the blotchy-ness, but I'd have to add more color anyway. I'm really looking for color richness on this one.
What do y'all think about this? Any ideas for bringing out the wood grain?
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