Hello to all,
I’ve been seaching for information on staining dogwood. I am refinishing a bass guitar that has a dogwood body and I’d like to know if it will take a stain very well. I’m hoping to get the stain to bring the wood to about the same color as the knots (see photo). I’ve tried guitar building forums, but dogwood is not comonly used in guitars, so I have not been getting any feedback. Thanks in advance for any input.
Jeff
Replies
I'd think your best bet is a dye. If you areapplying by hand, a powdered water soluble dye, applied liberally, can help even out the color. It will be necessary to run tests on scrap of the same wood to adjust the concentration to get to the look you want. Even so, I doubt you will get to a point where the knots will really disappear, just not stand out so much. . If making them go away is your goal, paint would be the solution.
Chemicals can have hazardous incorporated in their use. If dye doesn't work, you should be able to scuff sand, apply a sealer of 1-2# shellac, and then paint.
Just an update from the original post.
I am no longer considering paint. I am going to try to get the darkest possible result using water soluble dye, and live with what I get. I am going to use Tru-Oil to finish, with the Birchwood Casey sealer beforehand. I have been told that you can add color to the sealer. Would this be a suitable way to deepen the the color after applying the dye.
I am curious about what grit sandpaper I should stop at before applying the dye. I am also curious about other details I may be overlooking.
Thanks in advance for any input.
By mixing a concentrated solution of the dye you should be able to get quite dark. Remember that when dye dries is can look very dull lighter than you were hoping for. The color will be more like the color while wet. You can check the color by wetting the dye with a bit of mineral spirits. Color in a finish coat can be useful with sprayed finishes but applied by hand is difficult to keep even.
As far as sanding, sand as you normally would for the particular top coat. Remember dye will raise the grain. The best time to sand off the raised fibers is after the first finish coat has dried.
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