junebug Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 The wife asked me to make a headboard for the bed and gave me a picture she found online. Thedesign requires 1/4" plywood woven in to a lattace of sorts. I dont want to spend a lot of money on this as she has a tendency to redecorate at least once a year and I have a feeling she might get sick of the design at some point in the very near future. I found some baltic birch plywood for very cheap, so I figure I'll be using that. I know that birch has a tendancy to get blotchy when stained. I thought about using a pre-stain conditioner before the stain, but I've been told that it will not allow the stain to get as dark as it normally would. She wants this thing black. Not painted, but a very dark black stain. I watched Marc's video on blotch control, and he recommended a dewaxed shellac and a General Finishes gel stain. I looked at General Finishes website, and they dont carry a black gel stain. He mentioned that he has had problems with other gel stains (i've read a lot of very negative reviews on other brands as well). What do you think is my best option? Thanks, Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 You can always pile on the water based stain. It will build and hide botching. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semmons23 Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 I posted a review of Charles Neals blotch control on YouTube. It works great and I think with two or three coats of black or super dark brown it would work. I used general finishes brown mahogany stain and with two coats you couldnt see any grain on the poplar. My wife wanted it to match the espresso color from pottery barn and it totally matched. Charles' stuff is great and very easy to apply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 Mix about 6oz white wood glue to 36oc water room temp, that's your blotch control or use vinyl sealer. Either way works just fine. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceHoleInOne Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 Try testing without a blotch control, you may like what you see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CessnaPilotBarry Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 I'm with Ace... With a target color as dark as described, I don't think I'd worry about botching. In fact, pretreating may make an extremely dark color difficult to reach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 With the GF Wb stains the first coat is the pretreat. Poly is the binder so same as super thin poly. You can build that stuff to look like paint. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junebug Posted February 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Thanks for the ideas everyone. I'm gonna the water based stain and just keep layering it on and see how it turns out. If the wife doesnt like the look, I'll just pick up another sheet of ply and try something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 If you look closely, you can see that things are blotched pretty badly in the original picture, so I wouldn't even worry about it. Blotch away and then you can simply say you were following the example. How about using the pre-stain conditioner on one side and then none on the other. That way you can choose which looks better and get the added benefit of a free education on how things behave so you'll be better prepared for the next project. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Are you wanting that hand stained look or a very even tone? Black is very quick cheap and easy with waterbased if you want a real even tone. This is what I mean by even tone. Just a sample I made real quick for a gal but you can get the point. This is just gloss gf wb with a squirt of wb espresso. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junebug Posted February 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 She's looking for an even tone. I'll give the GF water based a try. Thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceHoleInOne Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Also....make sure everything is sanded evenly and raise the grain first. Something to keep in your back pocket while doing test boards. If your not getting the desired results. You may want to apply a black dye first to establish an even background, then adjust and even the color with the stain over top. You could get streaky results just building up your color with a water-based stain. It appears your working large areas, so you may want to consider purchasing some "extender" from General Finishes. It will increase the "open time" so the stain won't dry as quickly. Don't forget to work out your topcoat on the test boards....just a thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobMorgan Posted February 27, 2012 Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 Post a picture when you are done. Would love to see it May have missed it but are you hand staining or are you using a sprayer? If so, which one? I got an Earlex spray station myself just recently and always looking for ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimV Posted February 27, 2012 Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 First, that is a really cool idea for a headboard. I like that design. Second, there will no way to avoid 100% of the blotchyness (is that a word?) with birch ply. Third, all you are trying to do is minimize it. Staining by hand with or without a sealer will be worse than spraying. If you have the ability, spray a sealcoat of shellac or thinned 2:1 vinyl sealer if you are going a lacquer topcoat as a first coat. Then spray a coat of stain, wiping while it is still a wet coat. Then apply another sealing coat. Then the next coat of stain (you can use the same color even) spray very lightly but do not wipe and allow to dry 24 hours. This magic coat is what makes the blotchyness disappear. Then seal and topcoat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted February 27, 2012 Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 First, that is a really cool idea for a headboard. I like that design. Second, there will no way to avoid 100% of the blotchyness (is that a word?) with birch ply. Third, all you are trying to do is minimize it. Staining by hand with or without a sealer will be worse than spraying. If you have the ability, spray a sealcoat of shellac or thinned 2:1 vinyl sealer if you are going a lacquer topcoat as a first coat. Then spray a coat of stain, wiping while it is still a wet coat. Then apply another sealing coat. Then the next coat of stain (you can use the same color even) spray very lightly but do not wipe and allow to dry 24 hours. This magic coat is what makes the blotchyness disappear. Then seal and topcoat. Sounds like alot of work. This is one coat of dye on birch ply with two coats of GF poly acrylic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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