Need some advice please

[skiprat]

I have a little project ( flatwork ) in softwood. I want to two-tone stain it.
Very dark around the edges ( walnut colour ) but I want it to fade to a much lighter colour as it gets to the middle.
I've practiced with a brush on some scrap, but can't get a fade, just a solid line.

Any ideas welcome.

Thanks in advance:biggrin:

 

[mrcook4570]

Stain the entire surface dark. Then sand progressively more as you move from the edge to the center.

 

[johnnycnc]

Skip, try a spray gun for the stain.
A little practice at "fading" and you are set.

 

[skiprat]

Thanks John and Stan. Here's a small pic of the type of thing I'm trying to get

 

[DozerMite]

I've done it before and I found it best to seal the wood before spraying your faded finish on. Otherwise the wood will bleed the stain and the outcome isn't controlable. Spray from the inside outward to the edges to keep any overspray from the center of your project.

 

[wolftat]

Airbrush.

 

[NewLondon88]

I'll second the airbrush .. but go a step further. Try doing it with a thinned
analine dye instead of a stain. If you thin it with denatured alcohol you
can take some of it back off with same. And the dyes won't favor the
wood grain the way a stain will, so it should give you a much more even
tone. If you want to accent the grain, you could always put a stain on it
afterwards, since the stain tends to stay in the grain.
The plain old stain stays mainly in the grain.
Again?

 

[rherrell]

Steven, that pic looks like a guitar. I know a little about guitars and they get that effect with a spray gun. Light color on the whole thing first and then the dark color applied from the outside in.
It takes some practice but you can handle it!

 

[JerrySambrook]

The idea you are looking for is called toning.
Dye the whole piece to the base color you want.
Seal that in with a compatible sealer, such as shellac
Then tint some of your finishing product with the appropriate color dye, and use it to color around the edges. You can buy some commercially made toners from Mohawk, etc that would probably give you the color you want. Or be close to it.
If need be, add some more ealer, such as shellac.
Then finally, finish with the topcoats of what you want.
Depending how the toner is made, you might even be able to get away with just the top coat. The only problem might be reducing the amount of color in the toner due to blending with the topcoat.

Jerry

 

[wolftat]

The idea you are looking for is called toning.
Dye the whole piece to the base color you want.
Seal that in with a compatible sealer, such as shellac
The tint some of your finishing product with the appropriate color dye, and use it to color around the edges. You can buy some commercially made toners from Mohawk, etc that would plobably give you the color you want. Or be close to it.
If need be, add some more ealer, such as shellac.
Then finally, finish with the topcoats of what you want.
Depending how the toner is made, you might even be able to get away with just the top coat. The only problem might be reducing the amount of color in the toner due to blending with the topcoat.
Jerry

It sounds like he knows what he is talking about.