gel stain

[JBiorn]

I got a can of this Minwax "gel stain". I am having a heck of a time getting a proper stain on some maple shafts! is it the stain? or is maple just that tough to stain?

 jeff

[Zmonster]

Ive used the gel stain on some other projects, and had a HECK of a time getting it to spread evenly. I'll stick to regular stain from now on. jmho.

Regards

[tomh]

Never stained a bow of maple, but I stained a lot of wood in my painting business, and maple is a hard wood to get to take any kind of stain. That is why a lot of times you see maple is left clear. you could use a much darker stain than you think you want. it will come out lighter on maple. experiment on scrap.
a light sanding with very fine paper or 0000 steel wool may help too.

depending how dark you want it to go, you may have to use multiple coats, letting it dry all the way in between. If you try to do it too soon you will pull out the stain from the previous coat.

Staining in my eyes is more art than science. Good luck and have fun.

[JBiorn]

I sanded the heck out of them and then went to steel wool.(I once was a painter as well) I managed to get a little color on them, but it's amazing the tightness of this maple. I wonder if this gel stain would be better used as a dip and drag thru a gasket?

 Thanks Tomh.

 Jeff

[tomh]

is the gel stain a wiping type stain?

going with a darker color is all I can think of, besides multiple coats.

I got a lot of stain work in my area because no one likes to mess with it. It can be a royal pain.

Good luck

[JBiorn]

Ya, its a wiping stain. I think it would be better on a looser grained wood though. I am 3 coats deep here, and having hell getting it to get much darker. I think its because its maple. I'm using a dark walnut color.

 Jeff

[OconeeDan]

The alcohol based stains (dyes) from  www.guitarreranch.com  work real good on maple.  Buy it in powder form, mix with denatured alcohol, the maple soaks it right up, and has a very even stain.  At least that has been my experience with curly and quilted maples.

[tomh]

good call on the alcohol based stuff Dan.
Laquer based might be good too, but oh so stinky.

[horatio1226]

I too am a painter. The gel stain is too thick to penetrate tight grained hard woods. Thinner is better in my opinion.I think that gel stains only work good when you want to leave a lot on the surface. I use them when I want to make a metal or fiberglass door look like wood. I streak it to look like wood grain leaving a lot of stain on the surface. Thin stains run off the surface. My 2 cents.

[oops sorry]

Years ago, I was having a fit trying to stain a cheap birch gunstock. I was told to use RIT diluted into straight methanol (wood alcohol) worked very well and was cheap. You might try that....don't know for sure it will work, but good luck.

[oops sorry]

oh, and fer sure wear gloves...it takes a looong time to wear off your hands. Sitting at a business meeting with bright orange hands is a bit distracting to some.