I’m working with ash that is mixed heart- and sap-wood. I’ve arranged the boards to create interesting patterns.
What type of staining/dyeing technique will help to enhance this contrast? The heart-wood is dark and the softer (and I assume more porous) sap-wood is light. I’m guessing that a glaze (i.e. pigment in the finish) is going to work better than a stain because of this. Of course I’m going to have to do some tests, but I thought I’d ask here first.
Thanks!
Replies
Yes, sapwood tends to be softer and does typically accept more color from pigmented stain than heartwood does, it's not usually a huge disparity. But if it were me I'd use a wipe stain rather than a glaze because having the stain sit up above the wood is going to obscure rather than enhance the color contrast between heart and sapwoods. Better yet would be a dye stain because the porousness/softness of the wood is less of a factor due to the much smaller partical size of dyes.
Of course the greatest contrast will come from not staining the wood at all.
Try a clear natural finish , it will enhance the natural colors and character without obscuring them at all .
good luck dusty
I've read of techniques that involve staining and then using various methods to lighten the stain on the softer sap wood, but this is probably more work than can handle and beyond my skill level.... I think it would be particularly hard to control the amount of stain removal where boards intersect, e.g. where rails meet legs, along the edges of recessed panels, etc.
asinning,
Dp a test piece with shellac.
Clear not the yellow stuff..
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