Staining End Grain without it turning dark??

[Bills Elm]

Does anyone have any idea how to stop the end grain of pine going dark when a stain is applied?

I have some shop bought pine furniture at home and it has been stained but the end grain is the same colour as the rest of the timber, but when I try to stain some pine drawer fronts that I've made the end grain all goes dark and this is not the effect I want!!

Is there some kind of stopper that I can use to stop this happening but still allow the wood to take the stain and look natural?

Or is there a particular type/make of stain that I can use that this won't happen with? the stain I'm using is a very thin watery type of stain that I got from a guy who used it to stain that mexican style pine furniture that was all the rage a few years ago, it's a really nice colour but as I say it just shoots up the end grain and makes it dark.

Bill

 

[Chrispy]

Shop bought pine furniture the stain is almost always sprayed on which gives the polisher a chance to even out the amount of colour to apply.
How you achieve this depends on what kind of stain you want to use.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Does anyone have any idea how to stop the end grain of pine going dark when a stain is applied? Bill

A common technique is to block the end grain somewhat with some polish prior to applying the dye or stain (different things). For instance, you can apply a coat or two of thinned shellac to the end grain, let it dry, perhaps sand it a bit, and then apply the colourant. If your plan is to put a film forming finish over the top of this then shellac is a safe base for all other finishes, with the one proviso that you use dewaxed shellac. This is because, for instance, water based finishes are particularly prone to poor adhesion over contaminants, such as the wax in regular shellac. There again, if you plan to put a water based finish over the whole project after it's been either dyed or stained (or any other colouring up procedure), then it would make sense to partially block end grain with that finish. The same applies to oil based varnish and the various spray lacquers such as pre-cat and post cat.

If you have limited experience of this or other techniques to reduce colourant take up in end grain it would obviously make sense to practice on some offcuts to ensure you get the routine right-- it's not much fun learning you've cocked up the procedure on the actual piece!

And, of course, there are other techniques as mentioned by Chrispy. Colourants such as dye or stain may be applied with a spray gun or by hand and followed by things like spray applied toning coats to adjust colour. And there may even be hand applied glazing of one sort or another to achieve yet more effects. Anyway, hopefully what I described briefly in the first paragraph will suffice for your needs and get you going in the right direction. Slainte.

 

[Bills Elm]

Many thanks guys yes i will try that it sounds like just what i'm looking for Cheers

Bill