wrote:
jo_jo wrote:
I've been trying pigmented stains on a pine floor and they suck. I've
sealed the pine and even tried gel stain, but they look terrible so
far.

I've read about using dyes instead of pigmented oil stains. Where do
you buy this in the US (Texas)? Colron/Ronseal is a UK brand and I
didn't see a dealer list on their site. All the hardware stores here
carry is minwax or olympic, two versions of the same product.

I'm trying to get an orangish-yellow color, not turn the pine into
something it's not. I just didn't want the unfinished look on the
floors. I know pine darkens with age, but I don't think I'll enjoy
looking at unfinished pine until it turns the right shade.

Check this out:

http://woodworker.com/cgi-bin/FULLPR...ARTNUM=847-347

i use these dyes all the time. No offense to the Jewitt fans here, but
I don't like dyes that fade, and he makes NO bones about how his fade
when exposed to harsh light or natural light. He is completely up
front about it. I don't want anything on the floor that would be
damage from light coming in a window or screen door.

I like the Solar Lux dyes a lot, and they work great my finishing. You
can make different woods look like anything you want. I cut these dyes
by 75%, one part dye, three parts lacqer thinner. Mix well, and shoot
out of my smallest tip ( 1mm ) and coat the area. Thinned like it is,
it is easy to touch up any high or low spots, and it be darkened easily
with just another coat. I apply it going in one direction, then go
back over it in a 90 degree direction to the original application.

I put this on raw wood, and it never streaks or has highlights or
holidays unless there is applicator error. To top it, I have had great
success with conversion lacquer, regular lacquer, and polyurethane.

To test this out, it is also available in your local WoodCraft.

Where in TX are you?

Robert

I am in Waco, Texas, which is pretty central to Dallas and Austin. I'm
always up for a road trip - in fact, I wanted to get some waterlox for
the top coat and drove to Cameron to a hardware store that was supposed
to be a Waterlox dealer per the Waterlox web site. They had no clue
what Waterlox was.

Anyways, I think I'd like to dye the floor and will experiment with
sealing the wood before the dye, I suppose, then finishing the floor
with waterlox as I'm a little on the fence about poly. I'm also
considering handscraping the floor if I can find a scrub plane. But I
may just buy a stanley plane and have a local reshape the blade.

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.