staining poplar

[Bigboat123]

This is my first big project and im using poplar because it’s cheap and im expecting mistakes and waste. Im planning on staining it a dark color like dark walnut or even ebony. Im just curious if the greenish hue that poplar has will show through that dark of a stain, and if so if there is anything I can do to minimize it.

Thanks for any help you guys can provide.

[BillN]

I don't know if this will help, but here's a site. The gist is to wwatch out for blotchiness. In other words, seal the wood before staining.

http://woodworking.about.com/od/typesofwood/p/Poplar.htm

Bill

[thewoodwhisperer]

Yes definitely seal before staining. But....you have to be careful not to seal too much or the wood won't take on the color. In the past, I used to be a big fan of the dewaxed shellac spit coat followed by coats of gel stain. But I have changed my tune a bit after working with Charles Neil's blotch control formula. The stuff is like miracle juice for blotchy woods. Highly recommend it.

[went_postal]

I just did a poplar project stained in colonial maple. I wound up using bullseye seal coat mixed with some DNA to pre condition the wood. I did several tests on scrap to find that my project needed 5 parts DNA to 2 parts seal coat. End result was pretty good:

My advice: TEST TEST TEST

[Bob Rozaieski]

A good option is a reddish dye. The red in the dye counters the green in the wood for a nice reddish brown color. If your project has a mix of end grain and long grain, seal the end grain. The end grain will absorb way more dye than the long grain making the end grain almost black. DAMHIKT. The table below is one I did in poplar, dyed with Lockwood Red Mahogany water based dye.

You can see in the picture below how the shaped legs and curved edges of the table top got blotchy because of the different amounts of end grain exposed at different points in the curves. Sealing first with a wash coat of shellac would have prevented this. Next time.

[themrfreeze]

I've had good luck tinting shellac with a little TransTint reddish brown, then applying numerous thin coats of it to the poplar (after applying a few coats of dewaxed blonde to seal the wood first). Neutralizes the greenish tinge, but you won't get it as dark as it sounds like you want it.

[Mike Brown]

I have not tried this,but I read about bleaching the green colored wood with oxalic acid. It is suppposed to bleach the green to a brown. The article recommended one oz of oxalic acid crystals to a pint of warm water. It will not make poplar blotch any less, but it will make the green tint

less obvious.

Mike