Help on Staining Rim Black

[Bob Oakley]

The pipe I am working on - I rusticated the bowl but left the rim smooth. Then I stained with Fiebings USMC black and a spit coat shellac. With an extremely light buff, the briar color showed through. I removed the shellac and some of the stain with denatured alcohol and stained again. The rim is not soaking in the stain uniformally as it is "splotchy."

-Is there a way to keep the rim smooth and black? Or, do I need to remove stain, resand and stain brown?

Thanks for any help.

Bob

[KurtHuhn]

The shortfall of most staining techniques is that "ebonizing" wood that you want super shiny without the use of laqcuers simply isn't possible. Even the Balrog Urine method will buff off to show the grain - though in that case that's sort of what you want.

Personally, I'd sand back with 600 grit (or so) paper and re-stain. If the rest of the pipe is black, use black for the base coat. I've found that a rubber stopper (from your local hardware store) works well to keep stain out of the bowl, and that way you can really lay it on without worrying about staining the inside of the pipe. Let the stain have time to really soak in, and allow it to "cure" for a an hour. Once it's dry and cured, do the shellac spit coat and allow that to cure for at least an hour in a decently warm environment (70-ish degrees Fahrenheit), then give it a light buff using only white compound before going to carnuba.

This method won't keep *all* the stain, but it does tend to leave quite a bit.

[LexKY_Pipe]

I have found that the Feibing stains work much better if they are allowed to really soak into the wood. Like over night soak in. Many pipe makers stain and then buff as soon as the stain is dry. We all have our ways. I like to stay and then buff etc on the next day.

[KurtHuhn]

I've had the same experience as you. The Feibings stains are formulated with some oils that keep it from drying right away, and allow it to continue soaking in even if it appears dry on the surface. If you wait at least a couple hours, the results are far different than if you had gone right at as soon as it looked dry (10 mins or so).

[wdteipen]

heating up the stummel with a heat gun also helps.

[Bob Oakley]

Thank you all for taking time and giving me suggestions. I usually let stain dry at least 4 hours before spit coating but the spit coating removed some of the black stain too. I let the stain dry overnight.

I will try your suggestions this weekend unless I "chicken out" and sand the rim then stain it brown.

[KurtHuhn]

One thing to keep in mind is that, the higher the grit you sand to prior to staining, the less the stain is able to soak in. I usually recommend a maximum of 600-grit if you're still in the staining stages. Once you get past 400-grit, the ability of the wood to absorb stain drops of dramatically. The reason is the pores in the wood - or the lack of open pores when you get into higher grits.

[LexKY_Pipe]

Kurt

That's a great point! It's easy to overlook that minor detail.

[KurtHuhn]

Sometimes it's the simple things.

You can actually get incredible contrasts if you keep that in mind, using nothing more than good ol' leather dye. Sometimes you have to start staining way before you think it's time though.

[Frank]

Sometimes you have to start staining way before you think it's time though.

My best staining results have been when I've followed your advice, start staining at 200 grit.

[KurtHuhn]

Bingo! From what I've seen, not too many folks start staining that early. The results speak for themselves though.

[kbadkar]

The cool thing too is that staining early saves time on sanding because scratches won't go undectected.

[Bob Oakley]

I always stain early so I can see where I've sanded and to detect scratches and any uneven areas. Works well for me too.