I’m building a twin bed for my nephew out of pine. The bed is pretty much a direct copy of the Walden bed from The Land of Nod. Not my thing, but that’s what my sister-in-law wants. My problem is I can’t get the stain right. Any one have any tips on how to get a good even stain on pine?
I have read the recent FWW article about finishing pine, but that doesn’t seem to help. On my samples, I put down a coat of shellac and then tried building a glaze over top using a mixture of off the shelf minwax stains. I get a little bit of color build, but after 4 coats it’s not much. It goes on, and then after 15 mins or more it all comes right back off. At this rate I’m going to have to do about 100 coats of stain.
I’m fairly proficient at staining/finishing and have access to spray equipment, dyes, stains, etc., so pretty much everything is possible. I just need someone to point me in the right direction.
The attached photo is the color I’m trying to get to.
In advance, thanks. I really appreciate any help you can give.
Aaron
Replies
Colors
In the photo the F/B appears golden and the H/B burnt umber - I won't try to tell you colors looking at the pictures.
I have done work for LON over the years. They have sent me stain to use for customers repairs. Maybe a phone call and an offer to pay a few bucks can get you some stain from them.
Alternatively - if you want to glaze and you think that's the step that can get you to the color - try Japan as a glaze and mix the color to the strength you need. Or add japan to your minwax stain to make it cover better.
SA
One thing you might try is a lighter cut of shellac.
But, in general I would start with water soluble powdered dye on bare wood to establish a base color. Much easier to achieve a darker tone with dye than with Minwax type stains. If it is still blotchy you might need to use a wash coat even under the dye. But a very light shellac wash coat (say about 0.5 lb. cut, give or take). After the dye you can seal with a bit stronger shellac coat--say 1 1/2 lb. cut and then use one coat of stain to add depth. More than one coat isn't good. The binder is too weak to let it build up like a paint.
If you want glazes, then use glazing medium tinted with Japan colors or artist oils. This gives a much stronger binder than the weak binder found in stains. You don't have to wipe everything off the surface when you are using pigmented glaze base. But I would plan on using this only if I had details I wanted to emphasize by having glaze "hang up" in the crevices and corners.
Factory furniture makers often use toners to achieve more color without blotching. They work well for them, but really require application by spray gun. (Or for small projects aerosol cans, such as from Mohawk will work.) This does mean that you have to be sure that your toner (usually lacquer based) is compatible with lower coats. It will spray over shellac. If I have used a MInwax stain, I'd want to seal that with shellac before spraying lacquer, and I would start with a dry coat just to be safe.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled