I have experienced this on numerous occasions. My freshly sanded wood
gets a drop or two of rain on it. I let it dry. I try staining it and
wow! The stain takes up different. Yesterday I had to do an emergency
wet sanding of a piece that got a few drops of water on it from my
raincoat a week earlier. It was red alder and the spots took up three
times as much bartleys stain as the dried areas.

I am mainly curious as to what is physically going on. I know now to
cover my wood. I am very lucky that alder does not exihibit the
photo-sensitivity that some woods do. I use to have to cover my
unstained pieces with black plastic. That was a pain.

Thanks

Tor

ps. I am guessing that the wood pores simply expand, thereby accepting
more stain. I wonder if anyone uses this technique to deepen the uptake
of stain...

"tor" wrote in message
oups.com...

ps. I am guessing that the wood pores simply expand, thereby accepting
more stain. I wonder if anyone uses this technique to deepen the uptake
of stain...


The "stain" is a bunch of fine particles of pigment suspended (you
remembered to stir?) in oil and solvent. If the quality of the surface -
rough after setting up with water - is different than the sanded - pressed
down and perhaps burnished - more stain will stick to the rough.

Lots of people take advantage of this to break casehardened surfaces and/or
set up the fuzz before a final gentle whisk-off with super fine paper.

It's also the reason why you want to sand the glue spot off if you sanded
the rest of the wood. Scraping leaves a different surface. Or use dyes
instead of pigment stains.

tor wrote:

Yesterday I had to do an emergency
wet sanding of a piece that got a few drops of water on it from my
raincoat a week earlier.

I know now to
cover my wood.

Thanks

Tor



Emergency? Was it life threatening?

I always cover my wood when in the shop.

Dave

Would dyes be better for production work with red alder? I really enjoy
the easy of bartly gel stain, as I have not finishing room. Do you have
any experience with that?

As far as what's physically/chemically going on with rain on wood,
other things to consider besides pores opening are ions (salts)
dissolved in the rain, and the pH (acidity) of the rain. I don't know
off hand how either of these would affect the stain-ability of wood,
but it'd be an interesting experiment.
Andy

tor wrote:

Would dyes be better for production work with red alder? I really enjoy
the easy of bartly gel stain, as I have not finishing room. Do you have
any experience with that?

I haven't worked with red alder but if it's splotch prone like maple,
spraying nearly dry coats of dye should do the trick. Depending on how
strong you mix up the dye determines how many coats you need to apply to
get the depth of color required. For red oak, I apply WB dye with a
brush because it isn't going to blotch. Dark dyes need some additional
help because the oak pores remain light. I'll either apply an oil based
stain or a glaze to darken those pesky pores. I always practice on
scrap to be sure the net result isn't too dark.

Dave

On 9 Dec 2005 11:32:22 -0800, with neither quill nor qualm, "tor"
quickly quoth:

I have experienced this on numerous occasions. My freshly sanded wood
gets a drop or two of rain on it. I let it dry. I try staining it and
wow! The stain takes up different. Yesterday I had to do an emergency
wet sanding of a piece that got a few drops of water on it from my
raincoat a week earlier. It was red alder and the spots took up three
times as much bartleys stain as the dried areas.

It's proof that staining wood is a crime against Nature.
Don't do it, woman!


I am mainly curious as to what is physically going on. I know now to
cover my wood. I am very lucky that alder does not exihibit the
photo-sensitivity that some woods do. I use to have to cover my
unstained pieces with black plastic. That was a pain.

I'd be willing to bet that the pollution in the air and the dust
on the wood combined with the water to make a chemical or mineral
coating on the wood which made the stain react differently in those
areas. If it was that nasty East Coast acid rain, the PH could have
changed enough to do that even without any excess minerals. /SWAG


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Thanks ya'll

t

"tor"
I have experienced this on numerous occasions. My freshly sanded wood
gets a drop or two of rain on it. I let it dry. I try staining it and
wow! The stain takes up different.
Snip

You might consider using a hand or scraper plane before actual finishing.
In my experience, Adler will raise grain very easily if it get wet. When I
use Alder I purposely dampen the Alder to raise the grain then scrape. It
makes for a real nice finish.

Dave

Thats good to know. I will mess around with that. Maybe make some
comparison test pieces.

t