I’m starting a small side table project, the build itself is easy so I can try some new staining techniques, possibly on difficult wood. The base will either be maple or ash, the top will likely be an ash burl veneer.
I’m hoping for some tips on staining these four legs. I want a slight gradient effect, with the first leg being darker than the last, if they were on a grayscale it would be
Leg 1: 75%
Leg 2: 50%
Leg 3: 25%
Leg 4: Black
Any tips on achieving something like this? Would it be using different stains, or diluting the same stain less and less with lots of trial and error (I recognize most of it will be trial and error regardless) Is this feasible with hard maple, or am I digging myself into a hole and should choose an easier wood. Its for myself, as a practice piece.
Thanks for any help!
Replies
Neat idea. My first thought was that you apply more coats of the stain consequently making it darker. But, I think you are really looking for a fade where as the eye travels around the periphery of the end table the movement of the shadow is more natural than stark from leg to leg. So, I would use the same technique that an artist would. I would therefore maybe take a 24" (30mm - 60mm) piece of the leg material and make a gradient scale to calibrate the mix gradient. Then start by dividing the strip into x12 2" (15mm) sections. In section 1 of coat it with the lightest colour stain and section 12 coat it with the darkest colour stain. And then for section 2-11, I would calculate how the mix ratio between the two stains changes going from light to dark. eg. section 2 might be 8 parts light: 2 parts dark whereas section 11 might be 2 parts light : 8 parts dark. Once, you have the scale with mix ratios, you can transfer it to the legs and then as you go from section blend/fade the areas between 2 zones.
Electric guitar makers do this all the time to create sunburst effects. They use dyes primarily I believe, because they can be manipulated and diluted very easily. There are lots of videos on-line on how they create a sunburst effect
I recently saw something about using wood putty and dye to make that sunburst shading effect, it was really something. Lots of steps but nothing too complicated at least
Yes, you have to use dye not stain. Ash and maple take dye well. Transtint makes a black dye. But how about painting instead?
Agree with the suggestion to use a dye stain. I suggest you get some Transtint dye in the colors you want and use it in water. Wet the surface and then apply the stain until you get the effect you want. Transtint dye also will work in Shellac so you can use it as an overall toner to help blend. Use some scraps to experiment. Dyes will allow the wood grain to show as it is transparent. All that said, you will probably get a muted result unless you use primary dye colors which are available. Which brings up the idea of painting the leg pieces which would assure a contrasting result but no wood grain to speak of.
I will offer a slightly different idea. On one leg, you could use blond shellac, next a 50:50 mixture of blond and amber; next just amber; and last leg garnet shellac. After about 6 or so coats of a 1.5 lb cut, there is a shade difference between them. Likely not what you are looking for though.