Stains/dyes

[Bluekingfisher]

I have a couple of small repair/restoration jobs to complete and was wondering what you consider to be the best stains/ dyes? By that I mean water based or spirit based?

Does the type of existing finish dictate what to use, although the final top coat will resemble the existing finish where possible.

I am assuming comparable stains can be mixed/thinned to match the existing colour of the piece? I am only talking touch ups rather than staining the whole item, if that is any help.

Do I need to go back to bare wood or will the stain adhere to surface finishes such as shellac/sealer. Where the wood may be lighter as a result of UV bleaching or scuffed.

Any preferences as to brand, Rustins, liberon ??

Thanks in advance.


David

 

[ED65]

Does the type of existing finish dictate what to use, although the final top coat will resemble the existing finish where possible.

There are some compatibility issued with stains or dyes and various topcoats but presumably you're already planning on using a specific finish so come at it from another direction and work back from that. If it's something oily (literally any oil-based finish) then you don't need to worry.

I am assuming comparable stains can be mixed/thinned to match the existing colour of the piece?

By comparable do you mean same type, but from different makers? Usually they would be because of the very simple nature of stains/dyes; if you wanted to err on the side of caution it would be best to use a single maker's products but a simple test would confirm if there's a compatibility issue or not between brand X and Y.

Stains must go on to bare wood because they work by actually staining the wood fibres. They won't take on any finish if built up at all, although you can stain something that has had a 'sealer' coat put on (this is the principle of commercial pre-stain conditioners) but it will limit absorption so the stain's ability to colour the wood will be reduced, by quite a bit.

If you need to colour on top of a finish the procedures are called toning or glazing. Although they mean different things these two terms are used somewhat interchangeably, e.g. you can glaze with a toner or tone with a glaze.

This old article might be of some help, the first part is about a similar but related procedure (hiding walnut sapwood) to what you might want to do :
https://www.popularwoodworking.com/proj ... ing-walnut

 

[Bluekingfisher]

ED65. Thanks for the response, exactly the info I was looking for.

Cheers

David