End Grain Darkening

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awleonard

Well-known member
I just finished dyeing a chippendale footstool.  I use Lockwood dye - a red mahogany followed by a brown mahogany.  That combo gives me a color I really like.  Most of the work I have done has been pretty flat.  With the cabriole legs and carved feet, there is obviously a lot of end grain.  When I apply the shellac, the end grain gets extremely dark.  The dye helps make it dark, but it seems like the shellac really makes it dark.  Anyway, just thought I'd ask what folks do when staining and finishing a piece like this with lots of face grain and end grain? 

Tony
 
Hi Tony,

You can minimize or prevent dark end grain by first appyling a "wash coat" of shellac which is usually around 1/2 lb. cut.  This will partially fill pores that are prevalent in the end grain and also give you a chance to take care of grain raising on the face grain portions of your piece.  Partially filling the pores will give you a more uniform absorption of both future coats of shellac and stain and/or dye.  I usually apply two wash coats before moving on to coloring the wood or applying a thicker film.  One other note- I have found that scraping or planing the wood surfaces (particularly end grain)instead of using abrasives along with the above method gives you a better results also.

Mickey
 
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