Blotchy stain on White Korina

[Leroy]

Hi All

I'm build my fifth guitar and so far I've never had any finish issues.
I hand finish as I don't have access to spray equipment.
My normal process is Grail fill with timbermate>stain>Finish.

On this build I've used white Korina for the first time. When I stained it, it did not take evenly. Once dried it was very blotchy.
I've now sanded it back to the filler and I'm ready to start again.
From all of my searching through posts here it seems that the cure is to do a wash coat first. This seems to put down a barrier which stops the stain absorbing unevenly.

My questions are:
Can I use either tru oil or wipe on poly as the wash coat prior to staining?

I've also read conflicting threads about whether you can apply poly over tru oil??

Any advise would be appreciated.

thanks
Leroy

 

[ARandall]

Have you tried mixing stain into the grainfill??
Or mixing it into the clear??

Staining wood with dye is always a mixed bag. If there is glue residue about then the dye won't be absorbed into the wood there. Also the nature of wood is to absorb very patchily.....even something open pored like korina. I find that light wash coats tend to work better, as even the hard to dye areas will take the level of dye present.

Ive not done any washcoats prior to staining, but I'd guess they would hinder the dye process even more.....and the first few coats of anything has a patchy takeup.

 

[Leroy]

Its already grain filled.

The stew mac water based stains aren't compatible with wipe on poly from what I've read. Tru oil too.

Leroy

 

[ARandall]

I have never had much success with staining wood........maple is a really hard one to get right, and my original LP build used a grainfill that made dye pastel shades. That one got done as stain over grainfill....but that method is never again.
I would look to an additional grainfill coat. Even if the pores are close to full, the stain in the mix will react better with the wood

 

[Leroy]

Well i can confirm that the stain doesn't mix with either the tru oil or wipe on poly. I know that miniwax sell stains that are compatible with their poly. I might have to look at staining the poly.

Leroy

 

[B. Howard]

Sometimes it depends on the stain as well. Over the counter stuff has gotten worse and worse over the years. I won't even touch Minwax these days. Good professional grade stains work much better but some woods like cherry, maple & your korina still may need a little help and something to fill in the softer grains is needed. Do not use tru oil or poly as a wash coat. You can buy wood conditioner at the hardware or paint store.

 

[Leroy]

Ok.
I've found miniwax wood conditioner at the local.
I'll try that. I'm determined to get this right as I love Jr's and I want this to look as good as it will sound.

Thanks
Leroy