Jay Davidson said:
Have you seen this product be used on Swamp Ash? Dying Flame/Quilt Maple is one thing, but Swamp Ash is a whole different animal which to our knowledge doesn't dye well at all. This is why we don't dye Swamp Ash at Warmoth, we only use Transparent finishes on it. I don't mean to burst your bubble with this, but I would really make sure that this stuff is suitable for Swamp Ash before applying it.
Jay -
No bubble to burst here - you did read the first line of my post, right? I said that
I'm experimenting with this for the first time, so I can't say for sure yet
I've never claimed that this is a good product to use for anything
As with anything new ...
always test on scrap materials first!
To date I have tested the Woodburst product only on figured Maple and Alder. My initial post noted I had only tested on figured Maple.
- The Maple results are looking promising, but I still have a lot of testing to do before I would consider this a go for specific use cases. I am sure that certain selections of Maple would not be suitable for use of this product, and spalted Maple comes quickly to mind since the spalting would act more like a sponge that a surface to accept the dye evenly.
- The results to date on Alder are not so promising, as the colors lose much of their brilliance. I need to test additional pieces with a primer to see if there is any significant improvement in the coloring. Black might be a good color for Alder, but that is yet to be proven thru testing.
- I will begin testing on Ash only this coming weekend. I see that Ash as a wood type has a great potential to use this to fill the graining with color that would remain after sanding off much of the applied staining. But this is just hypothetical right now, as I have done ZERO testing.
As with all finishes, what works for one person may not work for another due to MANY, MANY reasons including application technique, application environment, age of the materials used, pervious wood preparation (sealers, fillers, and sand paper grit), etc ... Just because I have good results with my techniques does not imply that someone else will. The opposite is also true - just because someone has a bad result does not mean that this would necessarily be true for everybody. In every case when working with a new product test, test, test, and test some more before making the commitment to using it on the real piece of work you intend to keep. A small investment of similar wood from a local hardwood store could easily save you the frustration of messing up a body and/or neck that you paid good $$ for. Beyond just testing, you should also use this material to perfect your technique prior to application on the body/neck.
It is clear that I am NOT saying this is a product I would currently recommend to use, right?! I am only saying that it is a product worth investigation, and at $5 for a bottle at your local Woodcraft/Rockler it is definitely economical to experiment for yourself to see if it works for you. If it proves to be a good product for dying Ash (I say Ash, as Swamp Ash is purely a marketing term for light weight Ash), then this is great for the home finisher without a spray booth to know about.
back to my testing ....
R
