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One of the most common questions we get at General Finishes is --
What type of stain should I use for my project?
And today, we're just gonna demonstrate the differences between the stains.
We actually make a water based dye stain, we make a water based pigmented wiping stain,
we have our oil based gel stain, and then traditional oil based wiping stains.
And they're all a little bit different.
The thing about a dye -- dye stains are like ink.
They are a solution of color, and you can see there is hardly any pigmentation at all.
This is a straight dye stain. If I leave this stick in here, the dye is going to penetrate and travel right up this stick.
Our water based wood stains are a little bit heavier body.
A little bit thicker, they're more topical, they stay up on the surface.
Now, these are little bit different. They contain both dyes, and they contain pigments.
So you get the penetration of a dye, and the wipe-ability of a pigment.
Oil based gel stains are very thick. Just pasty like shoe paste.
What's really nice about this type of product is you can layer your colors together,
and build layer after layer of color.
What's nice is if you don't like -- say, the first color,
you can come over top with say, candlelight or nutmeg, and build layers of colors.
That's really nice about that product.
Then, the traditional oil based pigmented wiping stains are just that --
they're a heavy-bodied, pigmented, stain.
They have a lot of pigment in them, there's no dye in these stains,
and these would be more traditional in a pigmented wiping stain.
Wipe it onto the wood, and you'll wipe it off with a cloth,
and it gives you your pigmentation and your color from there.
We'll actually take the dye stain and we're gonna put it on some wood to show you the difference.
And if you can see this, you can actually tell the die is traveling right up the stick.
That shows you the penetration.
That means that on a soft wood, and I've got a piece of poplar here,
I'm just gonna take some dye stain and apply it right on the wood,
and it's actually gonna penetrate in like an ink.
So, just be careful when you select a dye stain,
be aware of the fact that once you stain the wood, it's going to be that color.
and it just soaks right in.
What's nice about is if I don't want to, I can just let the stain penetrate in,
and it will actually dry without wiping any of the color off the surface.
One of the biggest differences with dye stains are
they're very strong colors. That means they're very dominant.
So if you put a dye stain down, what it really does is accent your grain.
It penetrates deep, and brings out the color of the wood.
A lot of times, if you're working with projects with figured woods
like mahogany or walnut, or bird's eye maple,
the dyes really give you depth and color that you can't get from a typical pigmented wiping stain.
Even on a piece of burl like this, we just have a little sample here.
I'll show you --
This will actually magnify the grain in this piece of wood.
And this is really common in woodworking projects where you want to accent the beauty of the wood.
I'm just gonna brush that on.
You can see how rich that color is.
And it actually makes the background grain images just kind of reflect in a way that you normally don't get.
I'm just gonna wipe a little bit of color,
and you can see that there's really not much color left on the surface.
Most of it is actually penetrated into the wood.
Look at that!
You can see how much it really brings out that background and that color.
All right, now I want to demonstrate the characteristics of a water based wood stain.
I've got one ready here, and I've got the same piece of exotic wood with the burl behind it that we used on the dye stains.
Now, I wanna show the difference of how the actual water based stain
-- and again, a little bit heavier bodied, so it's a little bit more topical.
And that means it's just gonna stay up on the surface more.
What's nice about the water based stains are
they're orderless, they dry fast, soap and water clean up, and they're non-combustible.
So, we're working actually with them downstairs here,
and what's nice is, you'd never know that you were staining a project in your own room -- in your own basement.
One of the differences you're really going to notice is, when I wipe this off,
it's not going to have the clarity that the dye stain had.
The dye stains really penetrated deep, and gave you the background definition of the wood grain.
And because this is a pigmented dye based wiping stain,
you're not going to get the same type color development,
but it's still going to give you an excellent result.
Now I want to just demonstrate the oil based gel stain.
This is extremely popular right now in the woodworking market.
And as you can see, both the water based wood stain and the gels are very thick bodied.
And that gives you the heavy consistency that allows you to be topical.
It keeps the stain up on top of the wood.
And the one thing that we really -- it's a good idea always --
make you stir your product, mix it up well before you use it.
And this just ensures that all the pigments are mixed well together.
And we're just going to take the gel -- and the real difference between the oil based gel stains are --
Again, this is fairly low odor.
Now, this one does take a little bit longer to dry.
Typically we say oil based stains -- we would allow them to dry 24 hours,
or longer if necessary, depending upon your dry time.
Look at how much color you can get with just one coat application.
This is really hard to do with any other type of stain.
That's the beauty of jail stains, that's why they're so popular.
They're nice, clean, rich, colors.
Now these are straight pigments, there's no dye combinations in here at all
so what you're seeing is a pigment on top of the wood
but still get good grain clarity.
These are excellent products to work with. They're very popular today.
Alright, now we want to talk about liquid oil based stains.
These are probably the most common stains in the woodworking market.
What's nice about the stains -- they're easy to work with, they can give you good color
and this is probably the type stain that your grandfather used.
They've been around for years, and that just shows the popularity of them.
And again, with this type of the stain, the biggest difference you can see --
it's more of a liquid stain. A little bit lower viscosity.
So, you just mix. Again --
Stir the stain out. Make sure there's no heavy pigmentation at the bottom of the can.
And, I'm just going to apply the product with a brush.
Now, this is a little bit different. This would be considered a wiping stain.
This means that I've got to put this product on, and I have to take it back off.
The reason for that is, it's got a lot of solvent in it
and I'm just going to wipe the pigmentation into the wood.
And this is how you develop your color.
The one thing about the oil based stains are, again, they're going to take overnight to dry,
and it's kind of difficult to build really dark colors with a liquid oil based stain.
that's when I'd choose to use the gel stains. That's where you're going to get your really dark, rich, colors.
Now if you just take a look at these side-by-side,
you can just tell, the gel stains are much darker than the liquids
but these are really good if you're doing antique work,
or if you're doing reproductions where you just want soft subtle shades of color.
There's nothing wrong with it, it just gives you another option.