Solution for Too Dark End of Raised Panel
user-210490
| Posted in General Discussion on
The wood is maple first covered with shellac washcoat. The profile is a simple taper. Oil based stain applied and wiped off. The ends on some of them are too dark even with the washcoat. I would like to try and see if there is something that will work on just some of them. Here’s what I was thinking of possible ideas once I tape off the area around the ends, but I would really appreciate your help with this-
1) wipe with damp mineral spirits to lift some of the color?
2) sand it back?
If nothing practical will work then I will leave it as is. I have experience with spraying clear coats, but I have never done any spraying with tone coats so I don’t think this will be an option. Thanks for your suggestions.
Replies
This won't fix it now. But for future reference, with any wood species that you are going to stain, always sand the end grain about two grits finer than you do the rest. This will polish the end grain and it will not absorb as much stain and, therefore, end up a lighter color hopefully more closely matching the long grain color.
This reply is a great example of how valuable it is to hear the voice of experience in his forum. It makes complete sense once you've said it, but not obvious to some of us who are still learning.
Thanks.
I'm new here and am loving it.
It is so nice having so many people in one place sharing information
I also didn't know this and it will undoubtably be saving my hiney at some point.
exactly what i was gonna say. if you sand your piece to 220 for example then you should sand the end grain to 320. the end grain takes more stain which will result in a dark application that can be much darker than the rest of the piece so to combat that i sand my wood normally to 220 then the end grains i do by hand with a 320 grit sanding block!
I have had success in a similar situation, end grain of stair treads, by cutting the stain with mineral spirits. If I remember it was about 50/50. Then used 2 applications of stain. Try it on a sample.
Stupid side question. but I still think it's relevant to this.
Does this only apply to staining specifically?
Should I be thinking about this for any finish? I would think the end grain would suck up more of anything not just stain.
I'm working on a small table right now that will have some end grain next to long grain walnut. It'll be a thin coat of poly with wax on top or maybe a hard wax oil. I haven't decided.
End grain gets darker. Hard to prevent it. The old solution was to never show end grain at all. Tabletops had mitered breadboards, dovetails were covered with mouldings, etc.
On a raised panel, it really should be darker, I like that play between the stiles, rails, field of panel, and darker end grain.