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General Category => Introduce Yourself. => Topic started by: Old Viking on August 26, 2017, 01:05:02 am
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Hi I'M a newbe in scrollsawing but have made two items so for on my new Excelsior 16 inch. I would like to stain the them with some color they are made on Baltic birch. I would like to get some info on staining. Any information on this subject is greatly appreciated. Newbe
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I use Baltic Birch for a lot of things. I use MinWax penetrating stain and it works great. Brush it on or dip it. wipe thoroughly with paper shop towels. Then I use air compressor to blow the stain out of small holes. I let it dry overnight then spray with Krylon clear. Let dry overnight and then wipe gently with brown paper bag cut into squares. Good Luck :)
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Welcome to the site, Old Viking and
Thank You Judy for the info.
I didn't think BB would stain very well and
would be blotchy unless you took lots of extra
steps to seal it.
God Bless! Spirithorse
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I use Baltic Birch for 80% of my projects and use Mini Wax early american and dark walnut stains. I sand the cut pieces with 220 grit before staining and spray with Bulls Eye Shellac for a finish. Some items I may spray two or three times; about 1/2 hour apart.
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If you were to stain a large, flat piece of BB ply with a pigment stain, such as Minwax, you would very likely see variations in absorption across the piece, which is often referred to as "blotching". This is because Baltic birch is a fine grained wood with tight pores. The surface does not absorb the stain evenly, so some areas will be very dark and others will look like there is hardly any stain in it at all.
On smaller pieces or pieces of fretwork, where you don't have large, contiguous surface areas, the blotching may not be all that noticeable.
You can use various pre-stain conditioners that are available, to help minimize the problem, but be aware that they will prevent the stain from absorbing as deeply as it would naturally and this will affect the final color. You might also try a dye. Dyes can take a little practice to achieve the color you want, so I would recommend testing on some scrap BB ply first, if you go this route.
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I use BB quite a bit as well...I like to use Formby's tung oil finish on most of my stuff...I like the high gloss. I like the contrast it brings between the surface and the cut areas of the project. I usually dont have any blotching.