Even Stain Penetration

yup

hey fellas,

I've got some birch plywood cabinets that are ready for a dark, chocolate brown stain. the edges are finished with maple edge banding becuase it best matched the extremely light colour of the birch ply. the finish will be a couple coats of minwax "jacobean" stain with multiple clear coats over top but the problem i ran into when sampling the finish was that the edge banding was coming out darker than the birch ply and i'd like to even it out as much as possible.

I've considered pre-treating somehow or applying one coat of stain to the edgebanding and two to the ply but thought i'd put it out to you before going forward - any thoughts?

thanks.
d.

ProWallGuy

Sometime on dark stains, I 'pop the grain', meaning, I wipe it down with a wet/damp rag to open the grain more, and allow more stain to penetrate.
You also might want to look into a wood conditioner to even out the porosity.

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slickshift

Yeah, I'd recommend using a conditioner

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Originally Posted by ModernStyle I have never used this crap before and I pray to the paint gods that I never have to use it again, I would rather use Behr

yup

thanks. i haven't used conditioners before - do i apply them to both materials evenly (ply and banding) or only to one to try and even out the absorbtion rates of the two surfaces?
d.

ProWallGuy

I'd hit both surfaces.
But, if possible, test drive it on some scraps first. Once its on there, its in there.

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Digital Murals Installation

phinsher

couple other solutions,
1) wipe the stain from the edge banding immediately and allow the stain so sit a while on the birch before wiping.

2) sand the edge banding with a finer grit sandpaper than the birch plywood.

3) Dilute some of your stain with thinner. apply diluted stain to edge banding

4)spray the stain on (by applying it very lightly you can control the penetration of the stain).

5)seal the door then apply a colored finish. Birch and maple both stain pretty splotchy, a more even finish is possible by building the color on top of a sealer.

might take some experimenting, so good luck.

yup

i appreciate all the advice. i ended up treating everything with the conditioner before staining and was really pleased with the way it worked out.

d.

slickshift

Sweet
Thanks for th update

__________________
Signature Quote

Quote:

Originally Posted by ModernStyle I have never used this crap before and I pray to the paint gods that I never have to use it again, I would rather use Behr