Color Formulation

The best way to simplify the finish process in order increase production is to formulate one step color application. This can be achieved with a dye stain that is applied directly to the wood as opposed to wipe stains, glazes, toners, and shaders.

The color can be controled by not only how heavy you spray it on, but by how wet you spray it. The wetter you spray it, for example, the more the stain will bite into the wood or "pop" the grain. Otherwise the color will appear to sit on top and have a more "clean" look.

Another characteristic that must be accounted for in the color is the clarity. The best way to determine this is to turn the wood sample and view it from different angles. If the color appears to "flip" meaning it changes from light to dark, then the color was applied with NGR dye stains. The alternative is that the color will remain constant as you rotate it. This means that the color was formulated with tints or wipe stains.

When formulating the dye stain, once you determine how much clarity and "grain pop" you have to determine how much red, yellow, and blue the color has. Much of this is just trial and error. In fact, most finishes in order to match them effectively, you'll have to use a combination of NGR dye stains and tints.

2 Toned Finishes

Inevitably there comes a time that a customer will require a 2 toned finish, or multiple colors on the same piece. There are a few important things to remember when doing this.

this is the tape that I recommend for masking the line between the two finishes.
Scotch® Fine Line Tape 218

Polypropylene film with special processed backing that allows taping over freshly painted acrylic lacquer or enamel surfaces sooner and with less chance of imprint damage. Provides finest color separation line possible in multi-color striping jobs.
3M fine line tape

Make it as simple as possible. If you have two finishes going on one table, for example, make sure you formulate your colors to be comleted in a few as possible steps as possible. If you create a formulated color that can be accomplished in 4 steps, and you have 2 colors, you'll have 8 steps for each section.

Minimize clearcoat ridge. Don't color one section and then put 2 or three coats of finish on it before you start finishing the next section. Not only will you develop an uneven clear-coat mil between the two sections, but the clear-coat will tend to 'mound' against the edge of the tape, further adding to the uneven clear-coat.

A typical system for 2 toned finishes for me would include:
1. Mask off the lighter colored area
2. stain dark area
3. very light coat of sealer on the dark area.
4. unmask light area/mask dark area
5. stain light area
6. very light coat of sealer on the light area.
7. unmask
8. scuff the entire piece
9. apply a second coat of sealer
10. scuff
11. touch up tape line as nessesary
12. topcoat.

Staining Maple

Maple is a wonderful wood. It is often the choice of manufacturers because many colors can be applied to it, be it light or dark. The problem with maple is that the grain is real tight so there’s not much for the stain to bite into and when there is, it’s uneven. Often there are imperfections in the wood that causes the wood to look blotchy when stain is applied incorrectly.

Maple should be stained almost entirely with a fast dry spray stain. This will allow you to control the amount of stain biting into the wood much easier than if you were to wipe stain it. There are those who would recommend using a wash-coat prior to staining in order to ‘prime’ the wood for even stain application, the problem with that is that it adds a unnessesary step to the finish process.

The trick is to spray the stain on with even wetness. You can spray it on dry so the stain lays on top of the wood, or you can spray it on wet so it soaks in a little- whatever the color calls for. Just be sure if you spray it on wet, do it evenly, if you have dry patches it will look blotchy.

One thing that can be done to ’slow’ down the dye stain to allow it to be applied with an even wetness is to add a retarder such as butyl acetate to the stain. This will also help with blowback shadows that appear on the inside corners of cases.

Professional Finishing Blog

There are many types of finishers. The first and probably the most common is the do-it-yourself-er that for refinishes small tables, unfinished doors, and hardwood floors. Spray finishes are beyond his realm of expertise. The product that he may use comprises mostly of what can be bought at the local home improvement store.

Second we have cabinet makers and trim carpenters that finish their own projects because hiring a professional finisher is either overkill or cost prohibitive. Because the need to use more advanced finishes as a result of the need for better moisture protection in bathroom and kitchen situation, this type of finisher has had to master spray techniques with low tech spraying equipment.

Third we have the professional finisher/re-finisher that has refined his professional skills to do just about anything he needs to complete the job. Often, this type of finisher has his own refinishing shop or works in the residential construction industry on high end homes with large amounts of word work.

Fourth and lastly, we have the industrial finisher. This specialized finisher needs to do more, better, faster. Not only is a perfect finish needed or demanded, but it must be done with the highest efficiency. This blog will focus on this type of finisher. How to get more done, get it done better, and get it done faster. We will discuss various cost cutting techniques and improvements that can be made in every aspect of the finishing process that will eventually lead the company to profit and success.