Spirit stain - questions?

[Valkrider]

I want to have a play with some spirit stain and have some questions:

• On the inside of a bowl what grit do you sand to before applying the stain?
• If the answer to Q1 is not 400+ do you sand to 400+ after applying the stain?
• Sanding sealer before or after stain? Or not at all?
• How do you prevent the stain from going where you don't want? For example the rim of a bowl when you only want the inside stained?
• Any finish not to use after applying the stain and sanding?
• Anything else I should be aware of?

Thanks for any help suggestions.

[BrianH]

in my opinion it is unwise to sand beyond 240 before staining or it may go patchy on some timbers. Where you go afterwards is up to you but I find well sanded 240 before and then perhaps 320 after staining is fine enough for me.
 A burn line is the surest way to stop stain creeping.
No finish before staining.
I oil after staining and perhaps wax on top of that if I want a shinier surface.
A single colour of stain applied to a large area is anathema to me. 2 or 3 colours in patches or splodges and perhaps run them into each other with a light wipe over with meths before they are fully dry.
Dont overthink it just do whatever enters your head. Very few attempts don't actually work, in my experience.
too many colours on top of each other can turn into mud.
Look out an artists colour wheel to see which colours harmonise and which contrast with each other.
Have fun
Brian

[Bill21]

I sand as normal up to 400-600 and then stain. Perhaps I’ve just been lucky but I’ve not had any problems. I then use sanding sealer and de-nib. Stopping stain from going where you don’t want it to can be tricky. I’ve turned a narrow groove between the two surfaces before and that’s worked.

[bodrighywood]

Baically to stop the stain spreading you need to cut the fibres of the wood. Pyro or a slot will do it but you need to be careful staining up to the boundary as it can be a pig to get rid of if it over flows. As far as how much to sand, all the comments so far are valid as every piece of wood is different so it will always be a bit of a trial and error job. The whole point is to colour the wood whilst retaing the grain etc. If you want an even look you need to be painting not staining IMHO.

Pete

[Woodcrafts]

One other thing to be aware of; if your bowl is relatively thin and you apply stain to the end grain areas, it can easily bleed through to the other side of the bowl (inside to outside or vice versa), as the stain will flow along the fibres of the wood. I am not aware of any way of stopping that apart from having a good thickness of wood to soak up the stain. But that goes against most turner's desire to have relatively thin walled vessels.

[Valkrider]

Thanks very much for all the responses.

[otterbank]

With regards to Paul’s point of stain bleeding through the end grain. I’ve had success sealing whichever side of the bowl that is not being stained. A quick wipe of oil with a paper towel seems to work. Don’t flood it as the oil will bleed through. I’ve had success with sanding sealer too. Not Uber thin pieces but about 4mm.
Michael

[BrianH]

try making a curvy thin walled hollow form painted matt black inside and vibrant colours outside. the height of dramatic for me. Also coloured waxes(gold, white, black etc) worked into the grain after staining is well worth a try.
Brian

[Valkrider]

Brian

Thanks for that I will try the black but getting hold of the coloured waxes here in Spain is a challenge I have yet to find any and getting them from the UK since 1st January is a no go.

[Bill21]

Tan, Brown, Red and Black waxes are often called Shoe Polish!  You can make your own coloured wax by melting and mixing in powdered pigments if you can get them.

[bodrighywood]

Fabric dyes are good for staining as well.

Pete

[BrianH]

Well Valk.... or should I be more formal and call you Mr Rider?
There is no shortage of ideas, appearing on here, for you to try. Adding colour to woodyturning opens up a whole new Pandora's Box of interesting possibilities. Dont overlook the various dark colours available by singeing and burning.
Ive never tried the shoe polish suggestion but Im wondering if the oil finish will just lift the softish wax back out again. I must remember to try it at my next playtime.
Tarra
Brian

[Valkrider]

Well Valk.... or should I be more formal and call you Mr Rider?

Brian

Colin will do as per my signature 

Thanks for all the thoughts.

[Bill21]

Anyone tried mixing powdered fabric dyes with a solvent?

[Paul Hannaby]

Some of the wood dyes are available in powder form (Liberon?) so there's no reason why any dye couldn't be used. My first experiments with colouring wood was using silk dyes ("borrowed" from my wife who used to paint silk). They worked fine for colouring wood but as they were water based, they would raise the grain so wet sanding before staining was the way to go.

The question with any dye is how durable it is and how well they retain their colour so what ever dye you choose, it's a question worth considering.