Staining a stave after sealing and oil bending

[StrawHat]

If you debark a stave and seal the back with TB or other similar products that penetrate the wood, does that inhibit the deepness of the stain color? If the answer is YES, then what other type of sealer can be used so that the stain penetrates deeper. Or what can be done to remove the coating so that the stain will be a deeper color?

Also, if oil is used on the belly to add backset or flip the tips, etc, does that inhibit the  deepness of the stain color? If the answer is YES, what can be done to remove the oil?
 
What I have tried for removal is to dampen the wood with water, then slightly heat the stave (oil floats on water and TB will soften) and use a paper towel or rag to wipe off the oil and TB.

[Eric Krewson]

I seal staves with shellack, it dries hard and scrapes off easily, after just a little sanding, whatever I had sealed is down to bare wood.

You can put an aniline dye like leather dye on top of a finish and stain the wood through the finish. You have to put another coat of finish over the dye because it is mostly resting on the surface.

Here is an example; I put finish in my bow before I letter them, apply the lettering and put finish over the lettering to lock it in place, the lettering never comes off.

Another example; all of the wood has been preplaced below this lock; the replacement wood was plain with no striping. I stained the plain wood the same color as the rest of the gun and put several coats of finish over the new wood then painted in stripes with leather dye to match the original wood. I put two more coats of Tru-oil over my striping job to keep the stripes from rubbing off.

My point is you can stain over anything, just build up coats of stain to have the effect you want.



 

[Pat B]

I use shellac also like Eric to seal bow wood. I keep a can of spray shellac on my bench all the time. Any time I remove a back ring I seal it with shellac no matter how long it has dries or cured. It is easy to remove when necessary by sanding or wiping it with a rag wet with alcohol. Most finishes and dyes are compatible with shellac.

[superdav95]

If you debark a stave and seal the back with TB or other similar products that penetrate the wood, does that inhibit the deepness of the stain color? If the answer is YES, then what other type of sealer can be used so that the stain penetrates deeper. Or what can be done to remove the coating so that the stain will be a deeper color?

Also, if oil is used on the belly to add backset or flip the tips, etc, does that inhibit the  deepness of the stain color? If the answer is YES, what can be done to remove the oil?
 
What I have tried for removal is to dampen the wood with water, then slightly heat the stave (oil floats on water and TB will soften) and use a paper towel or rag to wipe off the oil and TB.

The short answer is yes it can inhibit stain a bit on the back if you use a water based poly product to seal up and to some degree also tb3 due to its water proofing.   On the belly it’s a non issue but the back on a white wood bow using shellack as mentioned is good and wipes off well and allows for stain after better.   I used to use a water based poly brush on product but found same issue of blocking stain penetration.  It’s easy to rectify however with a light scuff of 220 paper.  I use oil based stuff now that wipes off with alcohol or acetone depending what I’m doing.  I find the water based poly or varethane coatings hard to wipe off.  I do not use tb3 anymore either for sealing ends and back of a stave.  If you can get it shellack is great stuff. 

[bassman211]

25 bucks a quart at Lowes which to me is way over the top, and I do use it a lot. I haven't yet, but your better off buying bulk ,and making it your self. I use it for finish on some bows too.