[Marine04]

Does anyone know of a website that has a list of low pigment stains? I've looked and can't find one. I have a ton of 1x2x8's of southern yellow pine that I'm going to make picture frames out of to sell on my website and from what I read low pigment stains are best on syp. I'm needing to find a list that I can pick 3 stains from to stain my frames with. Once I run out of syp I'll be using pine from HD so I would like the stains to work well on both

 

[Fred Hargis]

Can't help with the stains, but would dyes work? That would be about as low-pigment as you could get, and they should work on both woods.

 

[Marine04]

Can't help with the stains, but would dyes work? That would be about as low-pigment as you could get, and they should work on both woods.

I'm not sure. I guess dyes could help. I did see a video on staining pine and it's seems like it is the exact same way I stain and pretreat with wood conditioner. I may take a test run with one of the frames. Put wood conditioner on it and see how well a mid to dark color turns out just to see if I'll have problems or not. I was reading something on staining pine and it got me nervous because I had already bought so much and the online articles were making it sound like a pain

 

[Fred Hargis]

Dyes can be a pain, and you don't want to use any kind of conditioner before application of the dye. Dyes actually need to penetrate the wood, a conditioner generally prevents that. The hardest part is getting the color even, but with practice it can be done easily. If you can spray them, you're ahead of the game...to me that's the easiest way to apply them. But they can be sponged on, then wiped off (sponge, squeeze the left overs back into your container). Trying them may be the only way to find out....

 

[Marine04]

Dyes can be a pain, and you don't want to use any kind of conditioner before application of the dye. Dyes actually need to penetrate the wood, a conditioner generally prevents that. The hardest part is getting the color even, but with practice it can be done easily. If you can spray them, you're ahead of the game...to me that's the easiest way to apply them. But they can be sponged on, then wiped off (sponge, squeeze the left overs back into your container). Trying them may be the only way to find out....

I'll have to try that with some scrap wood and try to learn the process and find my own touch to make it work

 

[Fred Hargis]

I forgot to mention: using dyes dissolved in water can cause grain raising problems. Normally you would just sand the whikers off, but if the wood is colored with dye the sanding can screw things up. Instead, tru this: apply the first top coat of finish, let it dry. Then sand smooth, apply the second coat, and then judge if it's what you need. The first coat locks in the wood fibers letting you smooth everything out and then it's sealed. Some dyes can be dissolved in alcohol, they don't raise the grain as much...but they do dry more quickly once applied, creating it's own set of problems.

 

[HowardAcheson]

Go here: https://www.mlcampbell.com/products/categories/stainsdyes

Look at their WoodSongII stain. They claim low solids.

That said I suspect that "low solids" and "low pigments" mean the same thing. I would think that a by-product of "low pigment" is a less intensive stain.

 

[Steve Neul]

I agree with Fred that a dye would be better for yellow pine. If you just want a stain Home Depot sells a tintable base stain that you could mix yourself. Just add whatever pigments you want in the quantity you want.