To stain or not to stain and when?

[asimon]

Do you always use wood stain on your models? If so, at what point in the construction process do you stain the parts? A problem I ran into is that if I build first and then stain, if there is any little tiny bit of glue on the exposed wood, the stain won't soak in at that spot and looks horrible. Do I need to just be really careful about not getting any glue on exposed parts? Or stain before gluing? Or don't use stain at all? Just varnish at the end? I use wood glue usually, sometimes CA.

 

Thanks in advance!

[mtaylor]

I'd stain before gluing.  I only use stain occasionally, like ebony as I'm trying to get away from the toxicity of that wood.

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

On 29/04/2018 at 7:59 PM, Y.T. said:

I never used and would never use wood stains. They spoil appearance of wood. This is only my humble opinion. Other people use it. Again it is to my opinion they ruin their models

 

May be it depends of which wood stains, there are a lot of kinds and effects, some are good and some are bad.

You can even formulate your own one.

[bluenose2]

My question would be what parts are you staining. As to glue up, use small amounts so you reduce squeeze out. Less is more. Clean up can be problematic. Softer woods will soak up adhesive and make it difficult to remove excess adhesive. I wait for the glue to set up until rubbery and scrape off. Some water on a Q Tip helps after. CA can pose issues as it coats and seals the wood, making any consistent staining impossible. Be very careful with this product. Best to use to attach or hold fast pre built items or planking. Staining in place poses it's own problems. Oil based stains may tend to leak under masking tape and contaminate the woods next to it, latex not so much. Same goes for painting. Hope this helps.