Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner Usage

[Jim Summers]

Hello All,

Recently there was a thread about maple / dye / blotching. There was a mention of using mineral spirits to test how the stain may be absorbed / look.

On woods that I know are prone to blotching, I have used a water based pre-stain wood conditioner, with pretty good success.

I assume that water would be considered the solvent for this, so would it be safe to use the mineral spirits after I have applied the wood conditioner, let it dry, and lightly sand?

I wasn't sure since after water based finishes have cured, then water is no longer a solvent to it and something else may be a solvent at that point.

Just didn't want to end up with some sort of gooey mess.

TIA

[Rob Amadon]

Jim,

Water isn't a solvent for waterborne finishes. It is more of a carrier. Lacquer thinner is a solvent for waterborne finish, but mineral spirits will not affect a cured waterborne finish.

On the subject of pre-stain conditioners, they are just a thinned version of a film forming finish. You could just apply a light or thinned coat of whatever finish you are using and achieve the same results.

Rob

[Jim Summers]

Interesting. I think the wood conditioner is some sort of really thinned out shellac. I hadn't thought about thinning out the finish I was going to use.

How much thinning? Say I am using USL. Maybe 3 parts water to 1 part USL?

Thanks

[Jim Becker]

USL or other water borne are not good candidates for thinning to the degree you need if you want to try and control stain and dye absorption. Water is only the carrier and when you add too much, there is very little actual finish left. A 1/2lb cut of de-waxed shellac is often used as a "pre-stain conditioner". Try that on some scrap of your intended project wood to see how it performs for your particular desires.

[Jim Summers]

A 1/2lb cut of de-waxed shellac is often used as a "pre-stain conditioner". Try that on some scrap of your intended project wood to see how it performs for your particular desires.

Some easy to obtain de-waxed shellac around here is Zinnser seal-coat. To get a 1/2lb cut do I mix 50-50? For example:

8oz seal-coat + 8oz dna = 1/2lb cut

Thanks again

[Steve Schoene]

A one to one mix of Seal Coat and DNA would give a .8 lb. cut. To get half pound cut, you would have to mix 1 part Seal Coat with 2 parts of DNA.

There is nothing magical about the cut used. The 1:1 mix will likely work just fine for that application. If your test shows that not enough stain "takes" over the shellac, try it after adding more alcohol.