Brushing the stain for wood furniture

Brush has been used in the finishing process since a long time. It is the main tool in the traditional finishing process when there was no modern equipment yet. Now, although most of the furniture finishing process are carried out by spray, brush is still lot uses. Some finishing materials such as: glaze, oil finish, wax are designed to be applied by brush. Some wood stain are also can be applied by brush with good result. The brush application although many have been abandoned actually has several advantages compared than the spray application. In the stain application, the brush is the perfect toll to wet the wood and let the stain coloring into the wood grain and pores. It will produce more naturally looked and enhance the beauty of the grain and pores. The application by brush also more simple and give higher efficiency since no material is wasted due to the dust spray as the spray application.

Tips in brushing stain.

However, the brush application must be done in the right way to obtain the optimal results. Here are the things need to do due to the brush application for wood stain:

•   Use the appropriate stain.

Stain that is applied by brush requires a special character, different with the stain for spray application. The stain for brush application need to be dry longer then the spray stain. The longer drying time is needed to avoid it dry before the whole surface get the stain evenly. The longer drying time also let the stain wet and penetrate into the wood pores and grain. It will give natural beauty of the grain and pores of the wood showed up at he finishing. 

If only the spray stain is available then you can add some slow dry solvent as mineral spirit or butyl cellusolve to make it slower drying and work for brush application. Actually the finishing material industry now has provided many wood stains that are designed to be applied by brushed, so what we need to do is find the right stain and apply it in the correct way.

• Use the proper brushes

Brushes have many kinds and types, and currently are designed to be used as special purpose. For the wood stain application you need the brush that can coat the stain evenly to the wood surface. The brush with thick and and elastic hair tip is the best choice. There is also brush with the cloth tip can be used with good result. Choose a high quality brush with proper size according to the size and shape of the good. you can find more information about brush, by read our previous post : Brush for wood finishing

• Preparation of the unfinished wood.

Application by brush is going to let the stain wet the wood more than the spray application. Therefore, the wood stain will soak in and coloring the inside pores and grains. Some types of wood could have a risk since this application. Too much absorption stain is high risk to result in the too dark color. The wood with uneven porosity will result to the uneven coloration (blotchy). The imperfectness surfaces such as: dents, holes, scratch or sanding marks will also be very visible. You need to do good preparation to the unfinished wood. Do a good sanding to remove the sanding marks, chatter mark. The dents, hole or gap should be fixed first. Make sure as much as possible that the wood surface has an even porosity. You may need to take care the soft wood with  glue sizing or wood conditioning to reduce the risk of blotchy.

• The application of stain with a brush

The brush application is actually quite easy to do but the results is difficult to be predicted. Since that you better do some trials on wood or veneer panels before do on a big product. Brushing the stain on the panel with the same type and similar condition with the goods and see the results.  After you are sure about the results then you can do the application on big items. The applications on a small panel can also be used as an exercise to familiarize our hands and feeling according to the results obtained.

• The brush application techniques

Dip the tip of the brush on the stain until about ¼ of its head wet with the stain. lift the brush carefully and move and stroke the brush to the wood surface until the stain wet the wood. Stroke the brush from one end to another with the direction along to the grain pattern. Repeat the brush application side by side with the first stroke, do repeatedly until the entire surface to get an even stain coloration. The brush stroke should gone smoothly and continuously from one end to the other end. Avoid the interrupting of the brush stroke in the middle movement, since it will generate broken color staining. The brushing technique is relatively easy to be done in the small surfaces area, but it is quite difficult in a big surface area. The exercising and practicing is the key to get the best result.  You may need to modify the stain to be dry slower to make it easier in application.
After the entire surface has been stained, then you have to check the color results. If an even and appropriate color is obtained, then you can continue with the next finishing step. But if it is not,  then the stain should be revised. The  stain layer can be removed with paint thinner easily when it has not been coated with clear coat on it. Use a cloth dampened with paint thinner or acetone and wipe the stain until all the stain removed and you get surface with the even color. And then you can redo the application of stain with better techniques to obtain the color we need.