Varnish/Stain - Bleeding?

[James Farrow]

I am correct in my assumption that hard woods would have less bleeding of a varnish or stain than soft woods?

Simple example to describe what I mean - Take a piece of wood. Draw a line down the middle of the board and then stain just one side. I gather there may be some bleeding of the stain from one side of the line to the other as wood is porous.

So softer wood = more porous = more bleeding?

Yes? No?

Thanks,

James

[Mark Rios]

Are you saying that softwood needs a bigger band-aid?

[James Farrow]

LOL! Everyone wants to be a comedian.

James

[Mark Rios]

Sorry....couldn't help it,I'm an EMT and when I see blood well.....anyway, I'm not able to give alot of advice here but I ask alot so I try to give where I can.
lol

[Jim Becker]

I think it's more than just about "hard" or "soft"...those are just one property set of a particular piece of wood. Open or closed grain will have an effect in addition to other factors. It really is hard to color a piece of wood like you describe and keep a crisp edge. You may be able to do it with a closed grain wood after scoring with a sharp blade, but this may be a great opportunity to learn veneering...

[Howard Acheson]

It has more to do with the porousity and pore structure than the hardness/softness of the wood.

Pigment stains stay on top of the wood so they can provide a sharper demarcation line. Dye stains are absorbed into the wood so they will almost always migrate over a masked line. Most stains contain both pigment and dye.

[James Farrow]

Thanks guys!

I guess if you practiced enough with the same wood you could stain it a bit from the line and it would bleed up to the line. Probably wouldn't work that well as there would be differences between two boards even if they were the same wood.

James