Difference between staining timber and tinting finish

[Kaisergrendel]

Hi, can anyone tell me the practical differences between staining the timber directly and tinting the actual finish on top? My interest is in how each approach affects the look.

[ubeaut]

Dye is in the timber and changes the colour of the wood, stain is barely in the wood and more on the surface, basically a weak paint. Tint is entirely in the finish and pretty much all on the surface.

Dye and stain are easy to get an even colour with, especially if you know what you're doing. Tint in finish is much harder to get an even colour especially if you're inexperienced. Some times even if you are experienced.

My preference, water dye (depending on timber) turpentine based or water based stain, then as a very last resort tinted finish.

A colour matcher is a prized person in finishing and a good one used to be worth his weight in gold. They often matched the final colour of a french polish using tinted shellac.

Best method of getting an even colour with a tinted finish is to spray, but again you really need to be experienced to make it work well.

Cheers - Neil

[ubeaut]

PS if the tinted finish is applied over a white-wood like pine it can look pretty good but if damaged or scratched it will show white beneath the scratch, etc.

Similar with a a scratch in a finish over a stain, however the finish over the stain may look a bit on the dead side compared to a really good tinted finish done by an expert.

The finish over a dye should look deep and brilliant and if scratched shouldn't show white as the other two do unless the scratsh is deep into the timber.

Pretty basic explanation but should give you a bit more of an idea.

Cheers

[Kaisergrendel]

Thanks, that was a lot of help!

[Harry72]

My experience is mainly with polyurethane and dark stain,

The main effects on applying stain to the surface of the wood or adding a small amount of stain to the finish is
Stain direct on wood will give you a flat solid colour that sits under the finish can look knee deep
Added stain to the finish will only tint a few shades stronger because its translucent, this can give a smokey effect if your game to add a tad more, but I do think the finish starts to lose its shine but that's nothing a untinted coat wont fix .
If you add to much stain it will turn into coloured paint... and block the grain completely.

Both can be done together to good effect, I think it as "candy apple for the woodworker"