Six Rules #6

 

Coloring wood is more like sailing a boat than shooting a rifle

Or as Yogi Berra used to say, “It ain’t over until it’s over.”  You can almost always adjust the color along the way.  Just remember, you can add dark, but you can’t add light.

Even with samples and step boards, sometimes tiny differences in the wood yield different results than you were expecting.    Take tiny steps with adjustments along the way.  Base stains (pigment and/or dye) get you to the right church, glazes and toners get you to the right pew.  Remember that top coats add their own color to the final finish.

If all else fails, you can resolve most problems by stripping and starting over.

4 hours ago, kmealy said:

but you can’t add light.

 

that's what light switches are for...

thanks Keith for the series...

been C/Ping them into emails and sending them on to the sub...

she says to keep them coming and thanks.....

Thanks, Keith!

It seems like the biggest problem I have in finishing comes when I pull out a can of stain. I don't much like to color wood so I don't do it very often; but the results are always, er, unpredictable. Using dyes instead of stains solved many problems, but it's still a crap shoot.

Edited June 13, 20179 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

Keep it coming Keith.  I'm liking this info.

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

It seems like the biggest problem I have in finishing comes when I pull out a can of stain.

 

so leave it where it sits...