Staining Op Grade EIR

[joel]

I did a quick test staining of a bit of the Op grade EIR from LMI that arrived during the week (Thanks Dominic!).

I used the Wattyl Rosewood stain, which is quite dark to begin with. I also applied it pretty thick, but wiped off the excess after only a few seconds. Use gloves!

Here's a before and after shot.


The ends look a bit darker than they really are. The colour is a bit more uniform across the piece. In the sunlight, it has a really dark red kind of look.

Here's the other side of the stained piece. The colour is a bit more even than my first try.


I quite like it nice and dark. But I may try thinning the stain a little in the future (with Metho?).

[Craig]

G'day Joel ,

Yes I think it is Metho. Doesn't work if your french polishing. It runs in to the shellac.



Cheers Craig

[joel]

You mean you can't FP over the stain? Didn't know that. I thought once the stain had dried properly, you could finish it any way you wanted to.

[Craig]

Give it a shot on scrap Joel. I'm pretty sure that's the same stuff I tried once . I noticed the colour going on the french polish wad. Water based stains work better with shellac

[Hesh1956]

Oh the horror...........

[kiwigeo]

Joel the opp grade wood came from Allied Luthierie not LMI. Check out here for hints on dolling up your wood:

http://www.alliedlutherie.com/makeover.htm

Cheers Martin

[kiwigeo]

Give it a shot on scrap Joel. I'm pretty sure that's the same stuff I tried once . I noticed the colour going on the french polish wad. Water based stains work better with shellac

Pulling colour out of IRW can be a problem during French Polishing. Its one reason to pore fill using epoxy. You need to be careful working near light coloured bindings as well.

Cheers martin

[Allen]

Even without staining, I've notice color getting "pulled" out of rosewood anytime I've given it a rub with a solvent. For instance with a bit of acetone before gluing. My first guitar had spruce braces in the back, and when I tried to give the interior a wash coat of shellac to the inside, color from the rose wood bleed everywhere. Won't do that again.

[joel]

Sorry! Allied Lutherie, not LMI! Whoops!

As for the colour bleed out, I'll have to experiment with the shellac with and without the stained EIR. I guess it'd be the alcohol that's pulling out the colour.

Either way, I'm liking the stained EIR. A day on and the colour looks less 'forced' and a bit more natural.

[James Mc]

I used Van Dyke Crystals on a new victorian look standing clock made from wide grained ERW (poo wood) then french polished it. It came up great, darkened up the timber and toned down the red/purple without making it look stained, very natural. Would be worth giving it a go if you want a natural look water based stain.

You can FP over Wattyl stain but you need to let it dry really well first and you will always get a bit of bleed from it the same as you do with the natural colour from a lot of the darker red toned timbers.

[kiwigeo]

To reduce risk of bleeding the IRW stain onto lighter coloured bindings I give the bindings a light seal coat of shellac before pore filling with pumice and I make sure when Im sanding I sand from lighter coloured wood out to the darker coloured rosewood and finish off with a cabinet scraper.