Replies

1. 
   RLMillard | May 30, 2002 11:34pm | #1

   There are several ways to deal with the problem. My favorite is to carefully brush some water on the on the endgrain immediately before you apply the dye. This has the effect of diluting the dye. The other method I’ve used is to apply a sealer made from thinned down hide glue. This has to be done at least the night before, so the glue can dry. When you apply the dye over the glue size, you should do so quickly and not go over it, as the glue will dissolve and the protection will be lost. Aniline dyes are not too bad at over darkening endgrain, so you may find you don’t have to do anything. Even if you get the endgrain to look the way you want, it may change when you apply a topcoat. Oil for instance will darken endgrain quite a bit, so you may need to apply a wash coat of clear shellac, to prevent this. I always carry a sample through each step in the finishing process, to see if it turns out the way I want. In fact, on a finish I’ve never tried before, I keep a sample of each step, so I can be sure that things are going along on the real project like they did on the sample.

1. 
   BobfromCorrales | May 31, 2002 02:16am | #2

   Thanks, I appreciate your input.  I'll try some different tests.

   BobBob in Corrales