Replies

1. 
   roc | Jun 17, 2009 08:46am | #1

   I hardly know beans about it but consider using dye rather than stain. Maybe stay away from woods with ultra fine pores like hard maple and you will be fine. I am sure the cavalry will be here soon to advise you further.

   roc

   Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )

   Edited 6/17/2009 1:47 am by roc

   Edited 6/17/2009 1:48 am by roc

   
   

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   Edited 6/17/2009 1:49 am by roc

2. 
   roc | Jun 17, 2009 09:05am | #2

   >good affordable woods

   Walnut may not seem affordable but many woods used in furniture by these guys costs four times as much as basic uninspiring grained walnut. Then get a nice figured piece for a focal point. Get the wood from a place that sells in 8/4 planks rough cut from the mill and you save bucks rather than from a tool supply store etc.

   http://forums.taunton.com/fw-knots/messages?msg=42154.5

   roc

   Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )

3. 
   SteveSchoene | Jun 17, 2009 02:55pm | #3

   Woods like maple, including hard maple, will take dyes that reach the dark chocolate brown, while the same woods will not get dark using standard consumer stains.  I then like to lightly seal the wood with a wash coat of shellac and use a pigmented stain, as a toner, to increase apparent depth and evenness of the finish. 

    

1. 
   wiskytango | Jun 18, 2009 07:40am | #5

   Yeah I was planing on a pigment dye first, then finishing it off with the stain.

1. 
   SteveSchoene | Jun 18, 2009 04:24pm | #6

   Just to clear up terminology.  "Pigment dye" is an oxymoron.  Dye differs from stain because it doesn't have pigment.  Pigment is a ground up material, often mineral, with discrete particle sizes.  Dye, on the other hand, is a solution that does the coloring at the molecular level.  That's why dyes can work on hardwoods such as maple--the molecules in the dye solution are small enough that they can penetrate and color even the harder parts of such hard, dense woods. 

   Pigment on the other hand can't penetrate, it has to have a binder (like a light varnish or oil/varnish mix) to hold it to the wood. It binds best to woods with more open pores which give places for the pigment to lodge.  On dense woods like maple (diffuse porous) the pigment doesn't get a grip, and mostly wipes off when the excess is wiped away.    

1. 
   wiskytango | Jun 18, 2009 05:57pm | #7

   Yes, you are correct.
   I typed faster than i was thinking.

4. 
   sapwood | Jun 17, 2009 07:02pm | #4

   Step one: Buy a few board feet of a variety of woods that you consider to be affordable and that are available to you.

   Step Two: Buy a few shades of dyes and a few of stain. Don't mix all the dye powder at once... the color will shift with time.

   Step Three: Work up as many combinations of wood, dye, stain that you can imagine. Label these. Put a good clear finish on them. Use the same finish for all and make note of it.

   Step Four: Look at your now valuable resource. You can now answer your original question without a doubt.

5. 
   Paul_Snyder | Jun 19, 2009 03:27am | #8

   Ash, oak, mahogany, and walnut all take dyes and stains well and can be colored as dark as you like without too much concern about blotchiness. Other woods, like maple, pine, alder, cherry, and poplar do not absorb dye and stain as evenly and are more likely to get a blotchy look. Using a thick gel stain on pine and cherry will help a lot to keep the coloring even. Of the two, it would be better in my mind to put the dark finish on pine since cherry is such a nice wood and turning it dark brown takes away all it's natural beauty.

   Quartersawn white oak can look very nice with a darker brown finish as long as you use a dye to get most of the color. Using too much pigment stain diminishes the character of the wood. Typically, I'd dye the wood to get 75% or so of the final color and then use a wiping stain right over the dye to get the rest of the color. The combination of dye and pigment works well.

   Walnut also looks good with a medium to dark brown color. The same dye/stain approach works as well.

   Paul
   website

6. 
   forestgirl | Jun 19, 2009 08:06am | #9

   Alder will take a dark stain quite well, can mimic walnut or cherry if done correctly.  Blotching can be circumvented, and Bob's your uncle. 

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 
   
7. 
   Moksha | Jun 21, 2009 12:00am | #10

   Wiskytango

   Take a look at Pink Lyptus wood for your project. It takes a dye particularly well. Attached is an example, here are two small doors that I made for a test. The frames are pink lyptus and the raised panel aromatic cedar. Note on the dark one how the cedar and lyptus took the dye so evenly. It is the Merlot dye from General Finishes. Attached is a pdf giving more information about the use of the dye.

   Moksha

   
8. 
   integrity_woodworks | Jun 23, 2009 11:53am | #11

   wiskytango

   Douglas fir takes a dark stain rather well . most of the 100 or so year home here in British Columbia are full of it done to look like walnut .I have done plenty of furniture pieces with it as well.

   Dan