I’m gonna stain and epoxy some cheap pine for a bathroom counter. It’s for the kids so my wife is thinking bright blue or green.
Do you guys have a favorite way to dye wood? I’ve bought minwax before.
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When I do have to use a wood stain I prefer to use varathane brand.
Not sure if they have the color you’d want.
https://www.varathanemasters.com/products
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Pine will soak up most stain and blotch. To avoid it you can try the Minwax Pre Stain. That will keep the stain from soaking in uneven and helps keep blotching down. Pine is very bad about blotching with stain or dye. The pre stain treatment will help but maybe not eliminate it or make it much less.
Have you considered poplar. Poplar is relatively cheap and will stain better but a pre stain works on poplar as well. Pine is very soft and easy to dent and scratch. Poplar is considered hardwood but is just on the cusp of hardwood/softwood.
If you stain or dye in pine without any penetrating treatment first it will not look good. Sorry but that is the nature of softwood and especially pine. If you have some scraps test it on that first.
If you decide on stain then the gel stains do not soak in as much as oil based stains. The pre treatment will still help with blotching.
If you use oil based stain it will not raise the grain very much. If you use water based stain then t he grain will rise. To help with water based products spray water on the raw wood and sand it before applying water based finish. The grain may still raise but not nearly as much as just raw wood.
If you have any end grain showing give the end grain 1-2 higher grits than the face grain. End grain will really soak up stain. By sanding it 1-2 grits higher it will soak up less.
If you want to try dye in different colors than the traditional wood colors of stain try the Transtint brand. You mix it with aclohol and apply. Still use the pre stain product because dye will blotch just like regular stain. Still do the raising of the grain with water. Aclohol based dye does not raise the grain much but it still raises the grain. After applying dye you can sand but you would likely need a second coat.
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Thanks, Guy. I’ll be trimming a little first and trying some variations.
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