Raising the grain &dyeing

Re: Raising the grain &dyeing

Sgian Dubh

Standard practice for water based dyes is to raise the grain first with a cloth well wetted with warm to hot water, but not sopping wet, wiped over the surface. This raises the grain. Let the surface dry. Then lightly smooth with something like 180 - 220 grit abrasive paper. Follow up with the dying process.

Pre-raising the grain significantly reduces future grain raising that may be caused during the dye's application. Slainte.

Re: Raising the grain &dyeing

David Yoho

Richard's reply is spot on. What I've found is when using the Lockwood dyes in water, if you're applying the dye as your main color, you'll want to follow Richard's advise.

However, if I'm dying curly maple where I want to highlight the figure, I don't do anything to the surface before the initial application. That's because it is solely to color the figure and will get sanded off the surface. It's this sanding that does a couple of things for you. The initial dye coat can allow you to more easily spot any remnants of glue on the surface, or other things like scratches. Sanding the initial dye will remove it from the surface, remove the raised grain, and allow you to sand those issues that the dye revealed.

After this sanding, I've found the surface to be quite smooth after applying the main coat of dye. Again, this is on curly maple.

Re: Raising the grain &dyeing

John in NM

I once made a curly maple gunstock, which was finish shaped with a rasp and then sanded smooth. When I dyed it using a water based dye, I quickly found what "raising the grain" really means - there were a bunch of rasp tracks that popped up!

Re: Raising the grain &dyeing

Howie

Many say raise the grain before the sealcoat, but this really is not necessary since once the sealcoat is applied, the raised grain will get knocked down when you sand.

Re: Raising the grain &dyeing

Tony - Memphis

I use a water based. I have experimented a bit. Its funny, some woods respond differently than others. (I know - what a revelation!). I used to follow the common suggestion of raising the grain pre-stain. Then, for kicks, I skipped it on a test piece once and couldn't tell any difference. Probably got lucky. So, I do usually raise the grain as commonly suggested. Go very light on your post grain raising sanding! And, after I dye (water based again), I find I can very lightly sand without removing the dye (careful!). I have used the synthetic pads a few times for this and they seem to work well (white or grey). End grain is more a problem in my experience. I have also read that some folks use a diluted stain mix to raise the grain. Something you'll have to experiment a bit with. I try to resist stain, but the dye stuff yields nice results even though it can be tricky. And, when it dries, you think you've ruined your piece, but when that first coat of clear goes on - wow!

I can't over-stress experimenting. And make notes. The last piece I stained, I had around 13 test pieces to look at!

Good luck!

Tony