I have a piece that I ran on the cnc machine that was made from Aspen.  Not really sure why I picked Aspen as I knew it would be an issue when it came to staining it.  Looking for suggestions as to how to get a good finish with Aspen's blotchy characteristics.

I have read of sealing the wood first with wood conditioner and then using a gel stain.  Supposedly gel stains do not penetrate like a normal stain.  I tried a sample piece and was not really impressed, so I am looking for other ideas.  My piece is not easily sanded because of the design, so I don't really want to raise the grain if I can help it.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Dave

I'm not experienced with them but maybe a dye instead of a stain??

Is paint out of the question????

I prefer to use a transparent color, rather than a paint.  Thanks

Dye does work well on aspen. Have only had the opportunity to work with it once.

 

I like an air brush on smaller items when I am worried about blotching

 and I use all types of stain and dyes. If light pastel shades are what I 

am going after I use a kids water color set. Amazing how you can highlight

things by shading in certain areas which is very hard to do with a brush

or a rag.

  Only thing if a person is getting lots of moisture from the air compressor

they need to use a water trap in the air line for best results. Plus an air

regulator for I usually spray at 10 to 25 lbs. of pressure.

10 hours ago, Smallpatch said:

I like an air brush on smaller items when I am worried about blotching

 and I use all types of stain and dyes. If light pastel shades are what I 

am going after I use a kids water color set. Amazing how you can highlight

things by shading in certain areas which is very hard to do with a brush

or a rag.

  Only thing if a person is getting lots of moisture from the air compressor

they need to use a water trap in the air line for best results. Plus an air

regulator for I usually spray at 10 to 25 lbs. of pressure.

I have never used an airbrush before.  Can you share some pointers when using it for staining.  What is the difference between a stain and a dye?

Thanks for all the replies.  If there are other suggestions, keep them coming.

A stain has larger pigments and will settle to the bottom of the container so it needs to be remixed each time it is going to be used. Most of the stain will stay on the surface of the wood and not penetrate very deep. Now most stains are water base and I think you can still get some oil base stains 

  A dye has very small pigment and needs no remixing before each use. Use to be all lacquer and acetone base. You use to have to be exact when using a dye for it penetrated so deep that it took much sanding to remove it.. Furniture companies now use the color mixed into the clear finish to spray to get a more even color for they use so many different woods in the manufacturing process.

  This is a Lenmar product made in Baltimore,MD I just now checked and I don't find this anymore. Seemed most all companies have gone to water base junk. 

  I use to consider india ink and printers ink a form of a dye but both are water based and the india ink does need to be mixed before using for it settles to the bottom. Printers ink is a finer pigment and I think it does not need mixing  before use unless stored for a long time. Most all the old dye had both names on the label as a dye stain years ago.

 

 On the Aspen you could thin down some Elmers glue and put a wash coat on the wood, let it dry before applying your color.

  If I do use a water based stain in the air brush when cleaning up after use, I use lacquer thinner to run through the brush to make sure all the water has been removed.

Wow, wish I would have just used a hardwood instead of Aspen.

Thanks

If you are using bright colors Chestnut Stains works well. It is alcohol based and has small amount of shellac in it. As Jesse said you can add more color with layers. If you want lighter color with Chestnut it is best to dilute and then apply with airbrush in amounts to desired color concentration. For this one the color was sprayed on with airbrush.

Note where different colors overlap a new color is created by the blending of the two.

In this one the color was blotted on with a paper towel.

Using the airbrush is easy with alcohol based color and the clean up is done by running alcohol through. As for the exact use of the airbrush which I think was the question there are some youtube videos that will do a better job than I can. Note there  are two types singleaction (or bypass) and double action (has a needle valve). If you want to spray oil base for cleaning ease the single is better.