Water Based Stains & Gluing

Messages
11
Water based stains make no claim that they seal the wood, as do oil based stains. Which raises my question:

Is it possible to pre-finish parts of a project with a water based stain, and then glue the project?

It seems to me that if the wood has not been sealed, the staining should have no effect on gluing.
 
I'm pretty certain you'd be fine gluing after using water based stain or dye. I guess you could always do a test...glue two pieces with stain and two without, then see if it takes about the same effort to separate the joint (or break the wood).
 
Oil stains use a film finish(varnish,lacquer etc) as a binder to keep the stain on the wood. Water dyes color on the molecular level and do not need to use a binder.

Regards

Jerry
 
Thanks for the responses.

I am not going to do this after all. If it were a good idea, a workable practice, I am certain I would have read about it many times in all manner of publications.

Next time I will get the contrasting wood that this project really deserved.

thanks again
 
I've read of other people staining before final assembly. The one big advantage of this technique is that it is possible to use contrasting stains on adjacent pieces of wood.

Which is of course what my intent was, and I thank you for your response.

The question that remains is did they then glue these surfaces? or perhaps only screwed or nailed them?

The efficacy of gluing after staining is what really interests me.
 
I use stain before assembly BUT I mask off the glueing surfaces just in case. Shoulders of M&T joints don't provide much gluing area or strength so I stain those areas but not the joint itself. Same with Dowels and Dados, sort of like working with prefinished Plywood, etc. As for the WB stains allowing adhesion, I would gamble to say it would be OK but any application of a substance to the joint would lesson the holding possibilities (IMHO)

Like suggested, make some sample joints and give it a try, (of course you will be required to report your finding)
 
Top