Dye Staining Update

Sample board with two stains

When using several wood species in a project, different colored dye stains may be required. I needed to do this for a tabletop that was ash surrounded by cherry. It would have been easy to stain each wood before gluing. When touching the tabletop, I didn't want any bump between the ash and the cherry. This meant that I may have to sand the bump but then the stain that was applied would be destroyed. I chose to stain the wood after gluing.

Staining two areas side by side is a challenge. My earlier post suggested using tape to mask areas not to be stained. This seems to work however if the sprayed dye is too wet, it can seep under the tape, as shown in the circles here.

I decided to do another spray test. For my test board, I've taken veneered ash and cut it into three pieces. I glued two pieces on the right together with the grain running the same direction. The piece on the left was rotated 90 degrees and glued. The image at top shows the sample board.

My goal is to stain the middle section brown and the sides red. I like to spray dye for consistent results as I described in a previous post. To keep the dye from seeping under the tape, the spray gun was adjusted to create a very light mist. This mist doesn't even form drops on the wood surface and it dries quickly within minutes. To get a darker shade of stain, just spray it again. If needed, dampen a small section of the stained wood with mineral spirits or naphtha to see what shade the stain will have when covered by a finish.

I was able to get a light mist on my HVLP gun by using a 0.8mm nozzle, adjusting the needle so that only a small amount of dye would get atomized, and using just enough air pressure for atomization. After achieving the shade that I wanted on the middle section, I sprayed it with Bulls Eye Clear Shellac. To save time, I just use their can of spray for small projects.

On my previous post, I had said the shellac will effectively mask the wood from the application of the second dye. After further experimentation, I have decided that I can't recommend doing this. A slight tint from the second dye remains on the shellac. On this sample, I used tape to mask the middle section and using the red dye, I repeat my light mist spraying on the exposed wood. When done, spray with shellac, and after removing the tape, lightly spray the shellac again along where the edge of the tape was. This ensures the dye is completely protected from the water-based finish.