staining poplar?

[rhett]

I am calling on the wisdom of NCWW. I have just finished two built ins for my sister, and made them from some old poplar my father had in his building. The original plan was for her to paint them. Well, plans have apparently changed. Having known she was going to change her mind, I would have made her cabinets from a different wood. I have only used poplar as a secondary wood, and have only heard nightmare stories of trying to stain it. Any experience taming this unstainable wood is much appreciated. I do not want to make this into a 50 step seal, stain, tone, spray project. Thanks for any advice.

 

[DaveO]

Poplar is difficult to stain for two main reasons. One is it's tendency to blotch, and second is the gross difference in color between the sapwood and heartwood, which isn't graded out.
The blotching can be controlled by using a shellac seal coat and oil based pigment stains, gel stains also help to control the color. Alcohol based dyes can help with color uniformity. As can a tinted top coating. For the inherent lack of color uniformity between the sapwood and heartwood, only good wood selection can help with that.
What kind/color of finish are you hoping to get on this project? Lighter colors are much easier to do than darker ones.
Dave

 

[rhett]

My unfortunate stain color is Minwax early american Dave. What is a good cut for the shellac? I am used to using Cambels stains which are NGR, and no prep was usually necessary, but have no supplier in my new small town.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

When I have had very wide variations in color on poplar, I have had good luck with bleaching the wood before any of my finishing steps. Might be something you could try, but practice on scrap first

 

[jeff...]

When I have had very wide variations in color on poplar, I have had good luck with bleaching the wood before any of my finishing steps. Might be something you could try, but practice on scrap first

VG - you took the words right out of my mouth.

 

[DaveO]

My unfortunate stain color is Minwax early american Dave. What is a good cut for the shellac? I am used to using Cambels stains which are NGR, and no prep was usually necessary, but have no supplier in my new small town.

Actually Rhett, that is probably a good stain to use with Poplar. The Early American stain has a greenish hue to it that should work well with the natural tones of the wood. I would use a ½ to ¾# cut of shellac as a wash/seal coat first to even out the penetration. Zinnsers SealCoat is a good product to use for this. Mix it 1:2 with DNA and you will get pretty close to a ½# cut. You also might try a brown toned gel stain on top of the first stain coat to act like a glaze and help to even the color if it doesn't come out uniform enough for your likin'.
Dave

 

[jmauldin]

You mentioned using Minwax Early American. I would suggest you consider a gel stain to follow the shellac seal coat. If you do go with what you proposed and are going to spray nitro lac, try adding some Minwax EA to the lac. I KNOW, I KNOW, they say it can't be done. But I have done it for years, as have some friends of mine, and it works without any problems. Just add not more than 1 oz. per qt.
Jim in Mayberry

 

[walnutjerry]

Poplar is tough to stain-----------the best job I ever got staining poplar was using a water based analine dye. about 3 coats, with sanding in between and then a couple coats of minwax oil based stain with MS diluted poly over that. I had to allow a lot of time between the dye and the stain for drying.

Not my favorite wood to stain!!

Jerry

 

[DIYGUY]

I agree with all of the wisdom in the previous posts. The only thing I would add is to consider purchasing Bob Flexner's book on finishing. It is a classic and worth every penny. This project would justify its purchase.

I also believe your best bet is to use the shellac underwash as DaveO has suggested, but perhaps in a 1# cut. I think you will essentially have to 'paint' the wood as you originally intended, only not with paint, but with a gel stain. You can then put lacquer or more shellac on top of it. I would avoid going near poly because it is a bear to get off should you want to start over. I imagine it has already occurred to you that a practice sample would be a good thing.

Good luck and don't forget the pics when it is perfected!