Birchwood Casey Walnut Stain and Tru Oil

[SIr Shredsalot]

Has anyone used Birchwood Casey Walnut Stain? Any good? Would 3 fl oz be enough to finish a tele body and headstock? Also, is any one familiar with their Tru oil?

Thanks.

 

[blimpo]

Their oil is a no-miss. Looks great and is easy to do.

Stain, I'm not sure about. Stain gives me pain trying to keep it even across the wood.

What type wood you going to use the stain on?

Whatever you do, be sure to get a similar piece of wood, stain it, then add the TruOil to
make sure you have what you want before doing it on a body.

The oil will darken the wood on its own so that might be a factor as to how much stain you'll need.

 

[SIr Shredsalot]

Hi Blimpo. I'm going to be staining Alder and Maple. Would builders merchants have any? I've never bought any wood so I don't know here to start looking! I'm in the UK.
Good news about the oil.

 

[blimpo]

I found mine (mahogany) at a sawmill over here.

A place that sells lumber would be a good place to check. A big hardware store maybe.

I didn't even have to ask for mine. I pulled in and scrap pieces were
laying all over.

If you know someone that has a wood stove. Lots of times they have
blocks they use for kindling.

 

[Keyser Soze]

BC Walnut Stain is an ordinary oil based pigment stain.  It is a fairly dark brown - to make cheap gun stocks look like walnut.

On alder I would expect it to blotch and the endgrain will be much darker than the rest.  Using a pre-stain treatment can minimize this a bit.

Maple, due to it's very tight grain, does not accept pigment stains very well - finish sand no higher than about 220 otherwise stain just won't have much effect.

Altogether I'd consider using a pre-stain on the alder and some sort of gel stain overall.  Gel stains are less prone to blotching, and easier to manipulate into an even effect.

Edit:  Here's some good general info on coloring difficult woods

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Staining_and_Blending_Difficult_Woods.html

 

[SIr Shredsalot]

Thanks Keyser Soze, excellent info, very usefull. That will help a lot.
By the way, The Usual Suspescts is one of my favourite films!

 

[SIr Shredsalot]

I also meant to ask how much fumes there are to contend with. Can I do this indoors or is it an outdoor with a mask sort of deal?

 

[ByteFrenzy]

The bottle of Tru-Oil warns that it will burn if you ignite it, and poison you if you swallow it. It doesn't mention the need for ventilation or masks. I use it indoors without any problems. I would't advise you to keep a freshly coated neck or body in your bedroom because you may not like the smell, but it won't harm you.

One warning that is traditionally given for all oil finish products: linseed oil, tung oil but also Tru-Oil, is to be careful with disposing of rags or tissues that you have used to apply it. In the drying process (a polymersation) heat is generated and this could lead to spontaneous combustion. I'm not sure how often this has actually occurred with the quantities you would normally use when finishing a guitar, but it's better to err on the safe side than to wake up dead due to your house burning down...

 

[blimpo]

I don';t mind the smell at all.

It is extremely user friendly stuff.

 

[Creek Henry]

Is there any way to lighten the walnut stain after it has been applied?  I applied this then did a 1st layer of finish to a gunstock.  The forend came out looking great but the buttstock is too dark. 

Thank you,