Aniline stains

[oldjohnevans]

Has anyone had and experiences, good or bad, with coloring wood with aniline stains disolved in alchol rather than water. I like the idea that they color the wood without obscuring the grain. I am leaning towards painting individual pieces rather than whole assembled puzzles.

[knothead]

I have used them for years with good results. Takes a little practice but you can get any color you want. Did a green cabinet that is amazing. Also did the top of a dresser in blue and people always ask about. After the stain dried you can work it with steel wool or a cloth to soften the color. Be careful with the top finish though. I found that spraying light coats of Poly is better than brushing or rubbing it on.
Good luck and have fun. (ware rubber gloves and don't drink to much of the alcohol )

Tom

[lucky788scroller]

I am just experimenting with the dyes myself.I have seen awesome turnings of quilted maple dyed, and I want to try a quilted maple fretwork project dyed,but Im not sure if the fretwork wil take away to much of the pretty grain to make it still look good, and I hate to waste the figured wood experimenting, but I will one of these days.
Knothead..if after spraying on the first couple coads, can one proceed with brushing on the last couple coats on furniture pieces? elaborate please. Thanks, Dale

[knothead]

Dale,
I don't brush very much of anything. It is so much easier to spray and leaves a much better streak free finish. After a couple of light coats I either sand lightly or steel wool with very fine grit. Spray, sand, spray till you get the luster and durability you want.
John B. pretty much summed it up in his post on finishing a couple of weeks ago.

Tom

[jigsue]

Can I re-iterate the "wear gloves". I have just spent today training 20 delegates and having to apologise for my "green fingers", because I didn't wear my gloves yesterday!

Sue

[Forester21]

LOL Sue! couldn't get by with telling them you were all thumbs - all "green thumbs"??

[Neal Moore]

Originally Posted by knothead

(ware rubber gloves and don't drink to much of the alcohol )

Tom

Tom...your comment lends a whole new meaning to "pea green paint"!! LOL!!!

[PeteB]

I bought some aniline dye because it supposedly does not sink into end grain as much as traditional stain. My experience was that it still discolors end grain appreciably, but not so much if a sealer is applied first. So, my finishing process is to first apply sanding sealer, sand, apply dye, and finish with poly varnish.

This sequence is very easy to do and gives a good-looking finish.

[jigsue]

Does sand/seal work on fingers???

Sue

[PeteB]

Better use some gloves, Sue! Goggles and a respirator, too, if your dye is anything like what I have. It has warning labels galore.