Replies

1. 
   peter28 | Feb 22, 2008 04:45pm | #1

   Jim,

   Often a vertical and horizontal surface will appear to be different colors.

   A dye as a ground or first color is a great way to help bring different boards together. It unifies the look.

   You may also consider just applying another coat of the stain to a lighter board to help the look.

   In a class I'm teaching, everyone had a couple of pieces of oak plywood for one set of samples.

   On one, they used a gel stain right from the can and stained the board. It was one of the reddish browns and produced a basic uniform color.

   On the second one I had them apply a dye first. It was a water dye (W.D. Lockwood) and the color was "medium yellow maple"

   We dried them with hair driers and in about 15 minutes we reapplied the same gel stain right over the dye.

   Everybody's jaws dropped; the first one we did now looked extremely lifeless and dull.

   By putting that ground color on we created an inner light, so to speak, to give the gel color the visual boost it so desperately needed. 

   They learned two important points; how to make color work for you and how incredibly easy it is to use a water dye.

   Good luck.

   Peter

    

1. 
   cutdude | Feb 23, 2008 06:19pm | #2

   Thanks for getting back so quickly to me with your responce, I do have a few more questions about staining....

   You said you use a gel stain over the dye.  Could a regular oil stain also be used?

   You said you use a water soluable dye.  What are the advantages of a water soluable dye vs an alchohol soluable dye?  The only disadvantage I have read about water soluable dyes is in the extra step of wetting the wood and letting it dry to raise the grain before sanding it. Is one more UV stable than the other?

   Thanks again. Jim