Stain over sealer test

In my TV cabinet build thread I described a problem I had with some stain taking too much and having dark strips in the glue up. I got a ton of great advice on how to avoid this, so I thought I would run a test on the underside of the new top.

The first pic shows the dye alone, with shellac, with sealer, and with conditioner.

The second pic shows these after the stain has been applied.



Note the stain only and the conditioner are closest in color with the shellac sealing out the most stain followed closely by the sealer. In both cases, for my taste, it sealed out too much stain leaving too much of the yellow cast of the dye showing through.

The big failure of the test is that it seams there was no part of this wood that soaked up too much stain!

Rennie are you saying you added a sealer to the wood before you stained it. If so the stain will only penetrate so far thus the need for a 2nd application.

Dave Hawksford said:

Rennie are you saying you added a sealer to the wood before you stained it. If so the stain will only penetrate so far thus the need for a 2nd application.

Click to expand...

Yes - dye first, then the assorted sealers, then stain.

Did not consider a second coat of stain. My thoughts were that the wood would only absorb so much stain. Will it absorb more after the first coat has dried?

Will it absorb more after the first coat has dried? YES. But what will make a very nice color is to use the die stain 1st then an oil whipping stain over the die. This will give you a very rich color. and you can achieve greater depth with a toner in the sealer.

I missed your other post but want to toss in something from my experience. If I'm working a piece on which I'm concerned about uneven color, I've had great success by using a seal coat of shellac first, then I mix TT dye with thinned shellac and spray multiple coats until I achieve the tone I want. By applying multiple, thin coats, I can blend any variations and get a smooth color.

Edit: Should have added that, in some cases, I use TT dye in denatured alcohol and spray it so I don't build the finish too quickly.