Predicting stock grain appearance?

[Model19]

Wondering if there is a way to somehow get an idea what a stock will look like after staining, etc...before you actually stain it? Is there any way to see what kind of grain pattern you've got? Damp rag maybe?

TIA,
Geoff

 

[t-buck]

yep a damp rag will give you an idea of what the grain will look like but the stain that you use may hide or pull out some more details in it depends on how dark and what chemicals are in the stain
also it will depend on how good the sanding is and if you need to catch a spot you may have missed
t-buck

 

[ohio ramrod]

I "grain test " wood by sanding a section and then rubbing with mineral spirits or turpentine. :idunno: :idunno:

 

[Model19]

No after effect worries doing that when it comes time to actually stain and finish it later?
I'm excited to try and get a glimpse of what I have using these tricks.

 

[1950DAVE]

Using Mineral spirits will give you the grain-effect without the color of your stain and no grain raise that you would get with water. (Basically simulating a natural finish as long as it is still wet.) The spirits will dry well enough overnight to stain as desired without affecting ypur color otherwise.

 

[Model19]

The mineral spirits trick worked great. It also revealed a ton of marks left from the pre-carve process that I'll have to clean up too :hmm:

 

[Bill Hall]

Right, the same thing works with water when you whisker the stock. The grain pattern becomes evident, as does all the tool marks you missed. Even if whiskering wasn't necessary, I would use water or mineral spirits just to find the yucky spots I missed. Bill