Dry Brushing Stain

[Jeremy Kargas]

I just got done putting a dry brushed (not sure if that's the technical term) coat of stain on a china hutch I built. What I did was applied the stain and then rather than using a rag to wipe off the excess, I used a brush to wipe it off which leaves quite a bit more stain on the surface. The reasoning behind it is that when I wiped off the stain with a rag, the finish was not even close to the darkness and tint I needed and applying more coats of stain didn't seem to help much. I am planning on putting on a coat of oil-based polyurethane next and I am wondering if this will affect the finish? With that much stain left on the surface, I'm worried that the solvent in the polyurethane will mess up the stain. If anyone has done this method, how did you go about putting on your top coat? Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Steve Schoene]

The binder in the stain is pretty fragile, so care is needed when applying a top coat, but if the stain has well cured, it should not be affected by the solvent. Give it an extra day or two. However, with that much stain the grain and figure in the wood usually quite a bit obscured.

Next time you want a darker color use a dye. Mixed with distilled water, powdered aniline dye can be mixed to just about any concentration you want and will make even hard tight grained wood like maple very dark if that is what is desired. Dye will not obscure the figure in the way pigment in a stain will.

You would also be well advised to use a traditional resin varnish. It will adhere better to the stain than will polyurethane varnish. It will also be clearer. I like Behlen's Rockhard varnish over dark colors.

[Jeremy Kargas]

Thanks for the advice Steve. I was thinking of letting it sit a few days to make absolutely sure the stain was dry. I also realize that the stain obscures the wood more than a dye, but that is actually the look I was kind of going for. The hutch will be matching a mission furniture set from Ashley (i.e. mass produced, quick finished) and I'm assuming they sprayed a stain onto this furniture because you could hardly see the grain in the wood, but surprisingly enough, there is alot of figure showing through on the hutch. I am planning on using dye next time though, I just hadn't ever worked with it and was a little leary about it.