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Staining Birch - What's with the inconsistency?!

3041 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Earlextech, Oct 26, 2016

StolCo

Discussion Starter · Oct 25, 2016 (Edited by Moderator)

Hey guys - I'm new to the forums, but have found myself here seeking advice many time before. I'm in a bit of a pickle, and I'm hoping someone here has a little nugget of wisdom that can help me out.

I've taken on a rather large project making a series of benches for an office building. Super basic benches - basically a rectangular box. They wanted to use Birch plywood. So I have 6 sheets of this stuff all cut up and ready for finishing. They picked a color - the ever-classic Early American Minwax stain.

I spend nearly an entire day testing staining processes to make sure I got it right. Everything from thinned out sanding sealer to only sanding. I probably ran 15 different samples. The best result was to hit it with 120 then 220 sandpaper, then apply the pre-stain conditioner, then stain.

The first set of boards I did turned out awesome - exactly what we were looking for. But the next set turned out not-so-great, then the next set was good again. All done in the same day, in the same afternoon.

Attached is a pic. The front and back pieces are good. But the middle one is suuuuuper light, more golden colored than brown. Any advice on getting those light pieces darker? Already did two coats without much change in color.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Help?!?

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sawdustdad

· #2 · Oct 25, 2016

All exposed faces on a project need to be from the same panel or from sequential panels. If you've mixed up the parts from different panels, you may never get them consistent. The way the wood absorbs the stain depends on how the characteristics of that particular piece of veneer-and it varies from log to log and from slice to slice (or, if rotary cut, from bark to pith). Other than layering on more stain, and letting it soak in, or even dry on the surface, you're not going to get them to match.

you've got alternatives-build the seats from matching panels, or make the differences in color part of the design, or go get more lumber and start over.

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splintergroup

· #3 · Oct 25, 2016

...and birch by nature tends to be very blotchy.

Your best bet in my opinion is to totally seal the wood (shellac, or poly), then use the stain as a toner (stain mixed with poly) and spray it on.

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Carloz

· #4 · Oct 25, 2016 (Edited by Moderator)

You still can get them darker but matching them to the others would be difficult. To me it looks like you forgot to apply the sealer on the good boards. Could it be true ? Also it could be that you sanded them differently the higher the grid is the less the wood takes stain.

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StolCo

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 26, 2016

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'm a little embarrassed to say it, but I ended up switching to a similar colored gel stain and it made ALL the difference. I knew I should have tried that sooner. You could say I have a tendency to have to learn things the hard way. I'm off to the races now.

I'll post a pic this afternoon when I have a few assembled.

Thanks again.

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Planeman40

· #6 · Oct 26, 2016

The blotch appearance to my way of thinking comes from the angle of the grain of he wood to the surface. End grain absorbs more stain than flat grain. Any waviness in the grain shows up as "blotchiness". To control this, before staining, apply a very thinned out coat of clear sealant to seal the wood surface and keep it from absorbing the stain. I find thinned out shellac works best as it dries quickly and "chalks" when sanded and doesn't clog the sandpaper very much. Burch can have a wavy grain as well as maple and both need to be sealed before staining if you want an even finish.

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