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Site AdminPermalink Reply by John Moody on February 4, 2012 at 6:32am

First and I am sure you would, but try it on a sample board of the same material. That will show you any problems that might show.

Are you planing on brushing then wiping or wiping it on?

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John Moody
John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

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Site AdminPermalink Reply by John Morris on February 4, 2012 at 8:46am

Allen, it might be wise to tell the gentleman that the stain he is seeing on the color swatch will not be the same since you are applying the stain to a very light wood Beech. You might have to make half a dozen applications to get that color he wants on Beech. That could be a long process on your part. Just a possibility to consider if you have not already.

I would sand a test board to 150 and one to 220. Stain them both and see which one is darker. I am wagering the 150 will be the darker of the two since the 220 board will be tighter and less porous then the 150.

 I noticed the instructions tell us to progress through the grits up to 220 but I am just thinking that 150 will give you the color you want or closer.

If the 150 is a better fit, then sand them all to 150. Remember, your going to clear coat them with your final finish so the feel of the 150 is not important at this time. As John Moody said, your going to have to go through a couple test boards to get the right combination of sanding,staining and final finish. The final finish will also darken up and en-richen the stain color bringing out the deepness of color.

 

What I like to do Allen is create a story board telling you how you achieved a specific final outcome in color. This way you'll have this story board for years to come that you can draw on the example to see how you achieved that color and you can also show it to future prospective customers.

How to make a story board:

I like to cut one piece of wood about 2 feet long. Divide the board into sections that represent the number of process's to final finish. For example, you are sanding, staining, finishing, this would mean you divide the board into 3 segments with a black marker or pencil.

But before you lay down your segmented marks, sand the entire board to your desired grit to apply your stain.

Now lay out your board in thirds with the black marker.

The first segment is already finished, you sanded the entire board, so what you can do is in the first segment mark down with pencil or black marker the grit you sanded to, this will tell you in the future what grit you sanded to before applying stain.

The second and third segment apply your stain until you get the desired color you want. When you achieve the final color, mark down again with a pencil or marker how many coats of stain it took, you will make this note in the second segment of the board over the stain.

Now the third segment your applying finish only, and sanding between coats. Before you lay down your finish, with a pencil or marker, make a note what brand of finish it is so years from now you'll know what you used. The same applies to the stain, make note of it in the second segment. Sand between coats until you get the desired finish you want and your done.

Now what you have accomplished here is you have a piece of wood that tells a story of how you accomplished this specific color and finish. You can show this piece to customers, and you will be able to achieve the same results with the next project. And the customer will have a piece of wood they can touch and feel, and see what the final out come will look like. If you do this for all your projects before finishing, you'll actually see exactly what it will look like before you even set one drop of stain or dye to it. And you'll have a piece of wood that you keep in a covered dark place that you can pull out anytime and reference for future operations. I say put it in a dark place because you want to preserve the color without subjecting it to light and rays that could diminish the quality of color.

This sounds like a lengthy process Allen but it really isn't. It takes all of a couple hours over a couple days for things to dry and finish and sand between coats. But it's well worth the effort if you plan on working with customers in the future who are going to require you to do finishing.

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Wounded Warrior Project and Homes For Our Troops

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Master CarpenterPermalink Reply by Allen Worsham on February 4, 2012 at 10:01am

I already did a sample board out of the Beech before I even started as we were in discussions about materials, designs and finishing. I got a number of samples of the Varathane from Home Depot (they sell little ketchup sized sample packs for $0.50 ea) and gave him 6 different ones with a coat of clear satin finish on it.

Everything will be sanded to 220 before staining. The stain will be wiped on.

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Allen Worsham
Corona, CA

allenworsham@earthlink.net

http://www.awcreationsandwoodcrafts.com

'Graze in every man's field, but always give your own milk' J. Vernon McGee

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Site AdminPermalink Reply by John Morris on February 4, 2012 at 10:28am

Not much to add then Allen! Looks like you got it covered! The only thing I can think of at this point is what type of clear coat are you going to use?

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Wounded Warrior Project and Homes For Our Troops

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Master CarpenterPermalink Reply by Allen Worsham on February 4, 2012 at 6:19pm

Ok, I finally got all 10 frames sanded down to 220 grit and boy are my hands sore (as well as the rest of me). The large frames (43"x43") took me about 40-45 minutes each to hand sand all the edges and ROS on the front and back with 80, 150 and 220 grit. The smaller frames (36"x26") took me about 30 minutes each. I went through and moved all the machinery and went "Bill Murray from Caddy Shack" and took the top off of my big shop vac and used it like a leaf blower to blow as much dust as I could out of the garage (my wife just had her car wash and now it has saw dust on it. Oh well). I had sanded down a chunk of the Beech to 220 grit like the frames and put a generous coat of the "Varathane American Walnut Stain" right out of the can to see how it looked. The wood really soaked it up and it came out pretty muddy. So I am thinking about doing a thinned first coat with mineral spirits to see if that would help with the muddiness. I have done that with oak before which worked out well, but I don't know what kind of ratio of MS to Stain would be appropriate.

Here is the scrap test piece. The color is spot on on my computer screen.

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Allen Worsham
Corona, CA

allenworsham@earthlink.net

http://www.awcreationsandwoodcrafts.com

'Graze in every man's field, but always give your own milk' J. Vernon McGee

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Site AdminPermalink Reply by John Moody on February 4, 2012 at 6:53pm

Color looks really nice. This board doesn't have the clear coat on it does it?

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John Moody
John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

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