Staining blemishes...

bscofield · Post by **bscofield** » Wed May 05, 2004 1:25 pm

Need some help... If this is just something that I'm getting cause of the dye I'm using then maybe John will be able to offer some help? But what I am getting are these little tiny black spots (or dark spots) when I dye the briar. Almost like a pore (sp?) or something. The sanding is done very thuroughly if I do say so myself (all the way up to 1500) so I don't think it's sanding. PLUS it's little dots, not lines like I'd get if it were sanding...

Anyone have any idea what this is? How to avoid it? I end up sanding so much in that area to get rid of them that I discolor that area from everything else (UGH!)

Post by **Tyler** » Wed May 05, 2004 2:22 pm

Ben,

Where are the black dots? On the outside of the bowl?

It's not the birdseyes is it?

Tyler

bscofield · Post by **bscofield** » Wed May 05, 2004 2:26 pm

It's on the outside of the bowl, it's not birdseyes. In fact on my pipe that I stained yesterday it was on a nice stretch of straight grain.

Have you ever gotten your hands dirty with something really black? And then before you wash them the hair pores (folicles, sp?) come uncovered and there's REAL SMALL dots of "clean"... they are that size. Like the size of the head of a ball point pin or smaller.

If I can get my digital camera to focus in that close I'll snap a pic.

bscofield · Post by **bscofield** » Wed May 05, 2004 2:35 pm

forgive the gargantuan picture:

After my sanding, it mostly looks like "bad sanding" but if you saw it before it was real clear, almost like the stain gathered in a "pore" or something... but I'm pretty confident in my sanding, especially in that area... ideas? You can see some other examples of it below and slightly to the right of the circled part.

ArtGuy · Post by **ArtGuy** » Wed May 05, 2004 2:46 pm

They look like sand pits to me. I think that perhaps they were not visible until you stained it. I get the same thing on some areas of my pipes. I have had areas of the grain stain much darker than others. I think it is just part of the wood.

Are you mixing your dye from a powder? If it is not mixed thouroughly enough I wonder if that could cause it? or perhaps your brush has some clumps of pigment in the hair from mixing??

bscofield · Post by **bscofield** » Wed May 05, 2004 2:50 pm

my (leather) die (dye?) did not come from powder in the way I got it. I suppose it MAY have been powder before I got it from the store. But doesn't the powder sit at the bottom? I just had a wool applicator (wire with a wool head on it) that barely touched the surface of the bottle... It actually did have a "powder dot" look to it but I sort of wrote that off because this was an already mixed, alcohol based, dye. I'll get a test piece of briar and try and duplicate it then take a pic before I sand/finish it so you can see it in it's ugly reality....

ArtGuy · Post by **ArtGuy** » Wed May 05, 2004 3:33 pm

If it is the fieblings leather dye I don't think that is it. I think it is just a characteristic of that piece of wood. More absorbent in those areas than others, that sort of thing.

bscofield · Post by **bscofield** » Wed May 05, 2004 3:35 pm

huh... Have you tried getting rid of them? What do you do? Or do you just leave it in as "natural?"

Personaly, I don't like the look of it. But I didn't see it after I had a finished and buffed it tho. It might look differently then.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Wed May 05, 2004 4:07 pm

Looks like a sand pit to me. I suppose the pit could be just below the surface, and not actually exposed during sanding. So it would look nice and clean before staining, but when you stain it, the stain could "pool" in the pits, causing a dark spot to show up.

Just a thought.

ArtGuy · Post by **ArtGuy** » Wed May 05, 2004 5:01 pm

I think nick is correct.

When something like this happens, I make a descision of whether I need to keep it smooth for myself and smoke it,rusticate, or it does not bother me and leave it.

marks · Post by **marks** » Wed May 05, 2004 9:41 pm

One thing I do before I stain, is I wipe the stummel with alcohol before I stain and look at the stummel under a good light. This will often show imperfections from sanding, etc prior to staining. If they show up like this, then they must be pits. Sometimes, small things like this are hard to spot, though.

Another thing could be dirt on your hands getting onto the briar. If you are not wearing gloves, little specks of dirt or oils could go from your hands to the briar. After I sand with 220, I try not to touch the stummel with my bare hands until the fininshing is completed. Usually, I buff and wax with bare hands, but I usually wipe them with alcohol and let them air dry before doing this.

kbosi · Post by **kbosi** » Thu May 06, 2004 9:09 pm

I think it is the wood grain. Briar Burl grain grows in all directions.
I have had this happen a few times. Stain it darker and it won't show as much.

Jeffery_Suter · Post by **Jeffery_Suter** » Fri May 07, 2004 11:56 am

I would agree that going darker will help hide it... I'd say that this is simply inherent of briar burl... I have had this happen, but most of my pipes I do a much lighter stain (most of designs have been almost virgin)...

I do a great deal of sanding after first stain and if I go too light I'll do another...

Interesting thread though... Perhaps I'll go dark with my current project (the grain is not the tightest).

Let us know your results...