Wood staining is an effective way of finishing, allowing you to emphasize its beauty and give the material the desired shade. Wood stains (stains), unlike paints, do not form an opaque layer on the surface of the wood, but penetrate into it (as if melted). In this way, nondescript furniture made of cheap wood can be given a noble appearance.
What should I look for when choosing a stinger?
The selected wood stain (colors - oak, ash, walnut, etc.) may not look the same in different companies. Therefore, you should trust the visual impression, not the labels on the package.
It should be borne in mind that manufacturers usually provide color samples on the boards of inexpensive wood (for example, pine), and in a finished product made of another material, the treated surface will look completely different. This is because different types of wood have different densities and structures. They also differ in the chemical composition of the elements. When applying the same stain, the mahogany will look more red, the maple will hardly change its color (this is a very dense material), and the poplar and oak will darken. At the same time, the porous poplar will change color very quickly (it absorbs a lot of stain), and a distinctive tree pattern will appear on the oak, because it has a pronounced structure.
In addition to the wood species, the result will depend on the quality of the thing. Therefore, before processing, it is imperative to test stain on the invisible areas of all materials used.
Whole wood pieces treated with stain will look darker than plywood from the same kind of wood. This must be taken into account in the production of combination furniture. Often you can cope with this problem by applying additional layers of dye in certain places.
What are the varieties of beits?
Wood stains, like paints, are divided into two types, depending on the purpose: for indoor and outdoor use. The latter include pigment that does not fade under the influence of UV radiation.
On sale there are pasty (gels), powdery stains and stains in the form of ready-made solutions.
In their composition, they can be: water, acrylic, alcohol, oil, chemical, wax.
Water stain for wood: advantages and disadvantages
Indoors, it is most often necessary to use a dye without a pungent odor. In such cases, water-based stainers are used. In addition, it is advisable to use these formulations when painting products with which food or children may come into contact.
Advantages of water stains:
- lack of smell;
- harmlessness to human health when working with them;
- savings (no need to purchase a solvent).
Disadvantages:
- a relatively low intensity of staining;
- long drying time (about 12-14 hours);
- the rise of the pile on the wood after applying the stinger. After the dye has dried, surface grinding is necessary.
Acrylic stains: price differences
A modern variety of water steyrs are acrylic stains. They are emulsions made on the basis of acrylic resin. These compositions have a wider color palette (in comparison with conventional water stains) and are more resistant to fading. The only drawback that an acrylic wood stain has for a tree is the price. If a water-based stain in a plastic bottle with a volume of 500 ml can be bought at a price of 12 rubles (an average of about 50 rubles), then the minimum cost of an acrylic analog is 310 rubles. A water stain in a 200 liter barrel costs 4,800 rubles, and a non-water stain (20 liter Euro-bucket) costs 1,710 rubles.
The nuances of applying stinger
1. Material from coniferous species of wood, such as spruce or pine, must be pre-tarred, because the resinous layers weakly absorb the dye and almost do not change their color.
2. Before applying the water stain, the surface is recommended to be moistened, since wet wood absorbs the dye better.
3. Wood stains in different ways penetrate deep into the material along and across the fibers. More commonly used is longitudinal dye application.
4. For tinting wood used spray guns, brushes, rollers, tampons made of fabric or foam.
5. The dye tends to settle quickly. Therefore, when painting large areas, it is necessary to have as much solution in a separate container as there is enough for the entire surface, and during operation, the composition must often be stirred.
6. If a powdered stain is used, it must be dissolved in soft water, preferably distilled (according to the instructions on the package). Hard water can be softened by boiling or adding 1 teaspoon of soda to 1-2 liters of liquid.
7. To obtain a darker staining, a solution with a higher concentration is used.
8. If the coloring composition is cloudy, it should be filtered with filter paper, cotton wool or a thick cloth.
9. Before staining, the painted surface should be carefully sanded and cleaned: remove oil stains with gasoline or another solvent, traces of carpentry glue with hot water, dust with a brush or rag.
10. Sagging should be avoided, because then it is not easy to get rid of them. The dried wood stain layer is very stable, and you can completely remove it from the wood only by sanding the surface with a sandpaper.
11. When processing vertical planes, the coloring composition should be applied by moving from bottom to top.
12. If the stain is heated before use, it will penetrate deeper into the wood.
13. To achieve the desired result, stain can not only be applied directly to the surface, but also added to varnishes, primers and the like.
Staining during staining and how to avoid it
This problem is related to the uneven density of the tree. For certain types of wood (e.g. walnut and mahogany), spotting can be attractive. But in most cases, spontaneously formed spots spoil the product. You can avoid this defect if you use a special conditioner, a layer of which will close the pores and will prevent the stain from penetrating deep into the material. After conditioning, you should use a coloring gel that has the ability not to spread, but to lie down in a uniform layer.
To obtain the desired shade, stains of different colors from the same manufacturer can be mixed with each other. In addition, you can change the tone of the
stained tree if another wood stain is applied to the painted wood, the price of which may differ from the stain used to process the first layer. Thus, you can save on the purchase of a second expensive dye packaging and expand the range of shades for tinting wood.