Staining Video

I posted a long article about staining about a week ago, and here is some video to accompany it.

I'm using the Behlens Solar-Lux dye (Cordovan Mahogany), but I wanted to keep the added color a little light so I thinned the stain heavily with denatured alcohol.

Since the carrier for the dye is alcohol it dries very fast. I am moving fast to try to keep the color as even as possible. By keeping the rag very wet I assure that the dye soaks deeply into the grain.

You can even up the color by applying multiple coats, but adding more stain will make the color darker, I wanted to keep it light so I applied another coat of "clear" stain - straight denatured alcohol. I didn't wait between coats, just as soon as I was done with the stain, I came back with the alcohol, again wet and moving fast.

I went to all the trouble of adding a maple accent stripe but by staining it I have made it blend in more. I want to take the stain off the stripe. Since I located the stripe on the hard angle of a feature line it is fairly easy to scrape just the stripe. I used a sharp razor-knife blade as a scraper. The back deck is more flat so it is harder to scrape that edge, a straight ruler gives me a guide to follow as I scrape the stripe.