MikeB Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 hey all, thought id do a tut here. I was unsure about staining ash for ages, so i just bought the wood, bought the stain, and got on with it! i knew that the end grain would soak up lots of the colour, so i decided to do many light coats... that is coats that are well diluted. the stain i used (behlen dark green) is alcohol based and so i used meths to thin it. meths is good because it evaporates off without leaving residue like white spirit does! ok, i did a few tests, i dont have pics really, sorry! i have found that... dont stain over waterbase natural grain filler, it looks woeful, the woods character is hidden, and there are white bits everywhere, very poor looking, very drab. do mix meths and use many many coats. This works fantastically well, and as i suspected all along all you have to do is persevere, and use many many coats of weak stuff, then get stronger! patience is the key! just keep adding coats. i find that you can almost do a coat as soon as you have finished with the last at the start! the wood is thirsty! good clean brush and container for mixing etc... less sawdust the better! rubber gloves would be advisable, as i did it without it, and so my fingers will remain green for a week! the stuff doesnt shift! here are some stages of the staining. note that the ash actually looks like it is flamed ash! very nice wood! bonus! flamed ash! here is the stain i used, beside the poly. here is a pic of the guitar body hanging showing the edges. notice that the edges are perfectly uniform with the body colour! i was impressed! well, thats all for now, hope this has helped a bit! Mike PS pics to come soon, host is playing up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 WOW! Thats a real interesting chunk of wood you started with! Very nice looking body! Can we see the back? please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeB Posted October 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2004 i dont know if i got a pic of the back, hopefully i did. i will look soon. it looks the same as the front, i have the pics of it before stain i think, its just i was trying to get it all finished while photographing i didnt want to waste all the (digital) photos! the back came out very well though. hopefully i will get more pics and upload them, but these will be during the final finishing stage, with the black burst and clears etc... also it was 3 pieces of wood, laminated tightly, hard enough to spot the joins! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dugz Ink Posted October 5, 2004 Report Share Posted October 5, 2004 When I used water-based stains in the past, it always "raised" the grain of the wood, and I would have to do a bunch of sanding to smooth it out, which would take off some of the stain I had just put on, blah blah blah. Does using an alcohol stain eliminate/reduce this problem? D~s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted October 5, 2004 Report Share Posted October 5, 2004 MikeB, that's a sweet piece of ash that you got, are you going to fill the grain before clearing, or leave it like that (Gibson Voodoo style). I love the look of the grain pattern and the "flame" on that V, the only thing I don't like id the joint of the body... but I know how difficult is to find a piece of wood big enough for a V, I'm looking for one to make an Explorer-Kelly type and so far all I have found don't accomodate my measurements. Good job, keep posting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_ed Posted October 5, 2004 Report Share Posted October 5, 2004 Hi D~s, Alchohol based dyes and stains do not pop the grain like water based stains do. Guitar Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeB Posted October 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2004 thanks all! this stain hardly raised the stain, a second of sandpaper did the trick. yeah, ,its killer finding big enough wood! subsequently it has been bursted, and its not getting filled for more of a natural look, im toying with the idea of quite a thin finish... im not sure, i like thin finished for some reason! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoydJohnson Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 When I used water-based stains in the past, it always "raised" the grain of the wood, and I would have to do a bunch of sanding to smooth it out, which would take off some of the stain I had just put on, blah blah blah. Does using an alcohol stain eliminate/reduce this problem? D~s ← Try Solar-lux water based dyes. They are great. They come in tons of bright color(my fav is the blood red). THey work just like water colors and can be blended into all shades. They raise the grain very little and I have even used them to tint laquers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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