gravity spray guns & stains

[checkerflight]

hi everybody, was wanting some help from you guys and gals i make wooden carry boxes for show poultry and show pigeons out of dressed pine and new sheets of ply. at present i use a marine grade clear varnish which has been tinted half strength with teak stain. i am a complete novice at this finishing game but i feel the finish could be a lot better i do a pretty good job on the boxes as far as the making goes and the finish is alright nothing to write home about. it can be a little bit blotchy do you think i should use a commercial grade of teak stain then use the clear varnish on top. i think the full gloss is some what diminished by the adding of the stain to the clear varnish as it does not seem to be very glossy. and would i be able to use a gravity spray gun with this type of finish. i use a brad gun after glueing to hold panels on and i fill the holes with a teak coloured putty again it is ok but it does leave slight stain marks on the boxes even after i have stained and varnished all in one. i thought about( shellach think this is how you spell it ) thinking it might help, and i also would like to do some in straight clear to highlight the ply, but even normal putty still shows, any help would be greatly appreciated may be there is some books i can get etc. kind regards (grandad) peter flack

[China]

I would stain first then apply the finish, adding stain can effect the gloss, apply two or more coats sanding with a fine grade paper betwen coats yes a gravity feed gun will be ok, the more expensive well known guns tend to give better results. polishers in furniture factories mix their own filler this way they can get it as close to the final colour as possible, it will take some trial and error

[Bob38S]

G'day Peter,

Raw pine and ply can be an absolute mongrel to stain without it going blotchy especially if using a spirit based stain - however, that does not mean it can't be done.

IMHO - seal the timber first by using a wash coat of thinned shellac or you can purchase commercial pine sealers like Feast Watson Prooftint Pine sealer - this has the effect of partially sealing the timber and allows a more even absorbtion of the stain which to a large degree eliminates the blotching. This procedure is extremely important for end grain work which is highly stain absorbent and in many cases with darkish stains will almost go black.

With regards the putty problem - I have had good success by using putty after the seal coat when working on pine, The reasoning is this - when the putty is applied to raw timber some of the putty smears over the exterior where you don't want it - unless this is completely removed it will show under your finish. If you use a waterbased putty then in most cases the excess smearing can be removed [when the putty is almost totally dry] by using a damp rag [with no pile as flannel has] wrapped around a spatula and wiped over the hole - the reason for no pile cloth on the spatula is, if you use it on your finger it will leave a dent over the hole as some of the cloth enters and removes putty from the nail hole.

Hope it helps, regards,
Bob

[checkerflight]

thanks china and bob for the reply and i am going to try some of the advice you gave me, i am going to get a fairly good gravity fed spray gun and i will try bob the putty idea, along with filling in the timber first. and china i am going to get some teak stain made up and i will apply separate to the varnish and i will try the sheelach idea. thanks again for your advice it was appreciated.kind regards peter flack