Recently I finished two nite stands and was dealing with fairly small areas
to stain and finish. Now I am making a book case and will be dealing with
pretty large pieces. With the smaller pieces I didn't have a problem with
blending the stain over the areas. With the larger pieces I'm wondering what
is the best way to cover large areas without the stain drying somewhat by
the time I'm 1/2 way down the length and width of the wood piece and making
it difficult to blend as I go along. Any suggestions appreciated, thanks.

--
Paul O.

Paul O. wrote:

Recently I finished two nite stands and was dealing with fairly small areas
to stain and finish. Now I am making a book case and will be dealing with
pretty large pieces. With the smaller pieces I didn't have a problem with
blending the stain over the areas. With the larger pieces I'm wondering what
is the best way to cover large areas without the stain drying somewhat by
the time I'm 1/2 way down the length and width of the wood piece and making
it difficult to blend as I go along. Any suggestions appreciated, thanks.

I've never had any trouble, even when staining an entire FLOOR!! Lap
marks can occur when using fast drying dyes like the alcohol based type.
Oil based stains should not leave lap marks except when applied by the
most klutzy user imaginable. I use water based dye stains also, and
have yet to suffer from lap marks, but of course I haven't applied them
to a project the size of a floor!

If you apply-and-wipe as you go (assuming you get the penetration and
color you want) even a first time newbie should not get lap marks.

Practice to see what results you get before tackling your real project.

Dave

"Paul O." wrote in
:

Recently I finished two nite stands and was dealing with fairly small
areas to stain and finish. Now I am making a book case and will be
dealing with pretty large pieces. With the smaller pieces I didn't
have a problem with blending the stain over the areas. With the larger
pieces I'm wondering what is the best way to cover large areas without
the stain drying somewhat by the time I'm 1/2 way down the length and
width of the wood piece and making it difficult to blend as I go
along. Any suggestions appreciated, thanks.


Depends a lot on what you want the coloring to accomplish. The more
radical the color change, the more dicey the project becomes, unless you
go all the way to saturated color.

Dye works differently than stain. David, in the past, has mentioned
spraying. For large projects, where consistency is important (think
kitchens or entertainment centers), this might be worth consideration.
The equipment for that level of spraying needn't break the bank.

Stain & finish combinations are inherently different that stain only,
followed by top coatings. If the 'stain' has a varnish component
(Minwax Wood Finish comes to mind), additional coats are likely to
behave differently than earlier coats. YHS learned this the hard way,
on his first table, resulting in a gummy mess, a long scraping &
scrubbing session, and a less than happy result.

Take $20 and go find Bob Flexner's "Understanding Wood Finishing,
Revised Edition", and read all of it. At the cost of less than half a
sheet of shop grade plywood, it's one of the better investments you can
make in project success.

You may also want to consider doing at least part of the finishing
process prior to assembly...

If all else fails, a good alkyd enamel can look quite nice on
bookshelves. ;-)

Patriarch

Hi Paul,
I use a "stain retarder" to extend the drying times. I am sure most brands (
not straight dye stains) have them. The brand I have found that works well is
Fuhr available from several online outfits. Cheers, JG

"Paul O." wrote:

Recently I finished two nite stands and was dealing with fairly small areas
to stain and finish. Now I am making a book case and will be dealing with
pretty large pieces. With the smaller pieces I didn't have a problem with
blending the stain over the areas. With the larger pieces I'm wondering what
is the best way to cover large areas without the stain drying somewhat by
the time I'm 1/2 way down the length and width of the wood piece and making
it difficult to blend as I go along. Any suggestions appreciated, thanks.

--
Paul O.