The amount of stain in the little bottles in the sample pack does go a very long way. However, a full set of all 8 colours in the larger bottles for £30 is a good price when you consider that most places are selling the large bottles of stain now for at least a fiver a bottle. The stains don't seem to degrade in the bottle with keeping (they are celllulose based, so make sure you do the lids up tight in storage to prevent the solvent from evaporating.) If you plan to be using them on a lot of large objects, I definitely go for the large bottles at that price.
Not sure how many bowls each little bottle in the sample pack will do. I started off with a sample pack and I do remember that yellow was the first colour than ran out, mainly because my partner used most of it up colouring about 8 large tool handles (one of these was a felling axe and the others handles were only slightly smaller). I then managed to find the large bottles of all the colours except white in a sale at £2.95 each so bought one of each of these.
For lathe work, I usually apply the stain generously with a very soft brush (which wastes less stain than using a paper towel), then rub off any excess stain with a cloth. This method is also less messy than applying with a cloth and keeps the stain mostly off the fingers and on the wood! The stains do stain skin, but will scrub off with washing up liquid if you do it soon enough. Splashes on clothing are less easy to remove.
The stains are rather unforgiving and will highlight any blemishes or sanding scratches so you need to make sure the finish on your wood is first class before using them. On less-well finished wood (like my partners tool handles!) the colours were quite dark, but I've found them all to be much brighter and paler on well finished turned items. The darker colours (dark blue, black, purple & red) can go a bit patchy on end grain.
As the stains are cellulose based, be aware that they will bleed into any cellulose based finishes you apply over them (including Woodwax 22) - which could be problematic if you you are using several colours on the same piece and (like me) don't want to use spray finishes over the stains.
They are certainly fun to use and open up all sorts of creative possibilities.
tekno.mage
