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longcruise

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Today I finished up the sanding and prepped this CVA Kentucky stock for stain. Using a light yellowish maple aniline. Mixed with denatured alcohol and began to apply it to the beechwood stock. Looked pretty good. A bit on the light side but an oil finish would darken it up. Then, shockingly, as the alcohol evaporated the stock turned purple :eek:

Here's what it looked like.

20231015_150443_copy_600x450.jpg


It looked like this before the alcohol evaporated.

20231015_152149_copy_600x800.jpg


I thought it must be the nature of the beechwood but went ahead and tried it on maple, oak and hickory. Same purple.

Back to the sandpaper I guess.
 
Hence the need for practice experimentation on scrap before you proceed to your final object. Glad you decided to take it off before moving forward. Consider using a scraper to remove it rather than sand paper though. The sand paper dust can cling to the stock and get ground back in there some times as you go back and forth. A scraper cuts off the top layer of wood
 
@Col. Batguano yes, I did that...... with the powder dissolved in water 💧! The switch to alcohol was to avoid raising grain. It did that just fine but obviously opened the door to a new problem.

The good news is the purple sanded out pretty easily. A new problem presented but not relevant to this thread.
 
Wow. That's just wild. Obviously the different chemical in the carrier changed things. You wouldn't ordinarily think so, but it just goes to show you that there are things you can predict, and things that you can't

If you whisker the stock enough times (and it could be 3-4-5 times before grain doesn't raise any more) you won't have any trouble with the grain raising after a water-based carrier. But you have to keep doing it. Once seldom does the job good enough. Some time's you'll sand through an area that was previously whiskered done, and raise grain there again. No matter. Just keep a light touch and you'll get it all to lay down and stay down...eventually.

I have personally found that going much finer than 320 grit tends to just push the whiskers over rather than cut them off though. I usually start with the 220 for a couple of times, and then go to the 320 after that. I MIGHT try 400 for a very last pass (and super light) after it's seemingly stayed down after the 320 though. Just to check.
 
To dewhisker , simply use 90 % alcohol , enough to dampen the stock , then dry the wood with a hair dryer , or heat gun , then polish the wood with OOOO steel wool that has been degreased with acetone. Just dip the steel wool pad in the acetone , then dry it with a rag. Tht steel wool is shipped with oil in it so it won't rust. If you stain with Fiebing' Alcohol stains , the alcohol is already in the stain base. Try the color on scrap wood , and see what you like before application.
 
I got it sanded out to 400 and wiped with tack cloth and applied an oil based stain. I'm OK with it now. One more very light coat of stain. I spotted some Tru oil on the shelf. If it's in good condition I'll use it. It tends to darken things a little.

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Whiskering with steel wool is fine if you're planning on staining with stains. All the books advise against it if you're planning on using AF or FN, as, imbedded flecks from the steel wool may turn black with the heat curing process. I've never tempted fate to find out if this is true or not. I figured why take the risk if you don't have to? AFTER the AF / FN treatment (and neutralizing) is fine to use the steel wool though.
 
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