[ATM] About Varathane Problems, Wood Stains, and Resinous Woods

["David Sleeter" <d.sleeter@roadrunner.com>]

Hi Folks:

In the past few days I've seen people commenting on wood stains and problems
they've had when refinishing things with varathane, and I've had some
experience in this area that might be of help. From 1969 through 1982 I
built 5-string banjos and repaired and refinished guitars for a living, and
though I made my last banjo in 1982, if you Google my last name (Sleeter)
along with the word, "banjo", you'll actually get some hits.

Anyway, in the course of my work I learned, through trial and error, that
you CANNOT use varathane on woods that have a high resin content because the
solvent in the varathane dissolves some of the resin in the wood. The
dissolved resin then mixes with the varathane to form a waxy compound that
never dries. Rosewood and teak are prime examples, and I experienced this
problem for the first time when I tried to refinish a rosewood guitar with
varathane in 1968. I ended up with a gooey mess that, a month later, I could
still scrape off with my fingernail. To salvage the project, I had to
completely strip the guitar, and refinish it with another product.

I also learned that, even with NON-resinous woods (like pine, birch, maple,
walnut, cherry, etc.), if the wood has previously been coated with an
oil-based finish or stain, unless you FIRST remove EVERY LAST VESTIGE of the
original product (you've got to get it out of the pores of the wood), you'll
encounter the same problem. Because it was often difficult or impossible to
know what finish had previously been used on a piece of wood, and because
VARATHANE YELLOWS WITH AGE, I eventually, and entirely, abandoned the use of
varathane, and moved on to other products.

REGARDING WOOD STAINS, during my first few years in the business I used
(commonly recommended at the time) the analine-acetone based stains made by
Mohawk Furniture Finishes. But the colors were cold, and when using SOME
colors on SOME woods, the colors would change as the stains dried. I had a
particular problem when trying to stain maple a light yellow, because as the
stain dried, its blue fractions would "wick" back up to the surface and give
the wood an unattractive greenish hue. This effect forms the entire basis
for the analytical science of "chromatography", but it's NOT an effect you
want when refinishing furniture and guitars.

Then in 1975, at the suggestion of a friend (a guitar-maker named David
Russell Young), I tried Tandy leather dyes. These alcohol-based stains were
sold by all the Tandy hobby-leather shops at the time, and they were NOT
subject to the wicking-chromatography problems typical of the Mohawk dyes.
The colors were warm, and the dried stain was compatible with the laquers
and other finishes that I used. I also quickly learned that I could make up
my own colors by mixing Tandy's different colors together. For example, I
could "warm up" their medium brown by adding a little red.

At the time, Tandy was NOT aware that their dyes could be used on wood, so
they didn't promote them as wood stains. But when I Google Tandy's dyes NOW,
I see that, in addition to their other dye products, they make an
alcohol-based line that they DO recommend for wood. They call it their "Pro
Dye", and assuming it's essentially the same as the alcohol-based dyes I
used in the 1970s, it should work BEAUTIFULLY. I'd therefore suggest that
anyone looking for a good, problem-free wood stain, experiment with this
Tandy "Pro" line of alcohol-based dyes. Hope this info helps,

David Sleeter/Moreno Valley, CA






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