In the recipes that follow, you will need some of the following supplies. Bear in mind that it is usually far less aggravating if you gather in advance all the supplies you’ll need before you begin.
For most recipes, you will need two brushes. The first brush will be used to wipe off the sanding dust and swarf (miniscule wood chips from machining that have lodged into crevices and corners) before applying color. A chip brush (one of those inexpensive throwaway bristle brushes) works well for this.
A dedicated dust brush will serve you well. Typically this is an older high-quality brush that is past its prime but still works well for removing dust on flat surfaces. To remove dust and swarf out of corners and filigrees, compressed air is most effective.
The second brush is for applying the final formulation of chemicals and/or dyes to your actual project. For water-based recipes, you’ll need a high quality synthetic brush that’s made of nylon bristles or a blend of nylon and polyester. You don’t want to use a natural bristle brush for any compound that is water-based because the water dries out these bristles, causing the ends to splay as the brush dries.
Oil-based formulations, such as some grain filling and stain recipes, will require a high quality natural bristle brush.
What is a “High Quality” Brush?
For starters, the bristles are cut to different lengths, and the bristles have split ends called flags. There will also typically be three rows of bristles in the ferrule. Pronounced “feral” like the wild cat, the ferrule is the metal band that wraps around the bristles on the handle.
A high quality brush has a raw wood handle—not a painted or varnished one, because paint and varnish can dissolve in acetone when you clean the brush. Consequently you could end up with flecks of paint and/or varnish lodged in between the bristles, and these could flow out onto your project the next time you use the brush.
Finally, a high quality brush is packaged inside a cardboard “keeper” that snugly fits the bristle part of the brush, helping to maintain its shape. Keep the keeper! It’s for everyday storage.
It is well worth spending money on a good brush for three reasons: a good brush holds more material, it releases the material more evenly, and it will give you years of decent service.
If the container holding your solution is rightly sized, you can simply rest your brush across the top of it while working. Otherwise a piece of scrap wood or even the clean top of a plastic food container will suffice. Never rest your brush in the solution.
How to Clean a Natural Bristle Brush
Always clean your brushes as soon as possible after you are finished using them.
It is not good practice to clean a pure bristle brush in water. Water contributes to drying out the bristles, which will eventually lead to their ends splaying. Water is fine for cleaning synthetic brushes but it is preferable to clean natural bristle brushes in solvents. Here’s how to do it:
1. Prepare three containers of solvents. You will need three one-gallon containers: two filled with an inch of acetone and one filled with an inch of paint thinner.
Tip the first container of acetone to make a deeper pool. (This minimizes the amount of acetone you have to use!) Dip the brush into it, squishing it down against the bottom and sides of the container and jostling it around to get as much of the material out of the brush as possible. Remove the brush and turn it upside down so that the solvent flows back up into the heel of the brush where the bristles meet the ferrule.
Use a wire brush to pull the material down out of the bristles.
2. Spin the brush. Use a brush spinner—a great investment for high-quality brushes!—to remove the excess liquid. If you don’t own a spinner, then put the brush between the palms of your hands and energetically rub your hands back and forth. Just be sure to do this away from your face! Or tap the brush against a hard surface to rid it of the excess.
3. Repeat this process by dipping the brush into the second container of acetone, cleaning the bristles as before. Again, spin the brush to remove the excess liquid.
4. Repeat this process by dipping the brush into the container of paint thinner and thoroughly doing a final cleaning. The paint thinner serves as the rinse coat and will not hurt the bristles. Then vigorously spin the brush.
5. Wrap the brush in its keeper. A high quality brush comes in a cardboard keeper that typically comes with a velcro tab to close it up. The keeper helps the brush maintain its shape and will also prevent the bristles from separating into individual strands at the ends.
If you don’t have the original keeper, then wrap the brush in heavy butcher paper or rosin paper to keep the bristles nicely aligned because they do want to splay out if left unwrapped. Newspaper isn’t the most ideal paper because it wants to tear and isn’t stiff enough. Lay the wrapped brush flat or hang it up to store it so that the bristles don’t dry in a bent shape.
Cleaning a synthetic brush is much simpler than cleaning a natural bristle brush. Wash it in warm soapy water and rinse with clear water. Vigorously spin it with a brush spinner to remove the excess water. Wrap it in its keeper.
Before using a new brush, first clean it with the solvent you’re going to subsequently use to clean it. Most new brushes will lose a few bristles. This is particularly true with a natural pure bristle brush.
You always want to use distilled water instead of tap water when working with chemicals and dyes because there is no chlorine or other trace elements in distilled water like you might find in your tap water. Distilled water is pure and will not interfere with the color.
Wearing gloves is absolutely essential when working with chemicals (some of which are carcinogenic) and dyes (which can be difficult to wash off your skin). Disposable latex or nitrile gloves are fine. Big-box stores and many paint stores carry them.
An easy way to put on latex or nitrile gloves is to blow into them first—like you are blowing up a balloon. Be sure to get your fingers all the way down into the tips of the gloves so there are no loose creases. This makes it easier to handle measuring spoons and a brush. Also if you are applying solutions to your project with a rag and are dipping your fingers into the solution, it will prevent the liquid from pooling within the creases and then dripping onto your project.
You should always wear a mask when working with chemicals and dyes. If you want to prevent your glasses from fogging up, buy a mask with an exhalation valve. An N95 polypropylene disposable mask is suitable.
Don’t ever use your kitchen measuring spoons and cups! Buy your own dedicated set. Really cheap sets are fine because the point is not that the measurements are dead-on accurate. What matters is to have consistent ratios of ingredients so that the solution is the same whether you mix and apply it in one session or in ten sessions.
If the spoons or cups you will be using come on a ring, remove the ring and only put the ones you need on your work surface. This way you only have to wash one spoon or cup instead of an entire set. Even if you haven’t used the others, there is a chance that they could have been in contact with toxic material or dye powders.
Some of the recipes call for very small measurements that sound like colloquialisms—a pinch and a smidgen—but you can buy a set of mini-measuring spoons that have individual spoons that are actually labeled a tad, a dash, a pinch and a smidgen.
The containers in which you mix the materials must be clean and non-reactive, such as glass or plastic. Large yogurt, butter and cottage cheese tubs work well. You can also use mixing cups that have measurements on them from paint stores, big box stores, or from online sites.
You will use rags to wipe the solution off your project and some people may even find it easier to use a rag instead of a brush to apply the color in some situations. Old white cotton tee-shirts are perfect because they are lint-free after so many washings. Cut around and discard the tee-shirt seams because they will remove the coloring material unevenly. Similarly, don’t use sections of the tee-shirts that having printing on them because you don’t know how that ink will react to chemicals and dyes.
Cut the rags to roughly 5" x 5" for small projects or furniture, or to 12" x 12" for wall panels. Of course, you could always buy a box of rags at a paint or big box store and these typically come pre-cut to 8" squares.
A clean surface is paramount for coloring wood because it enables you to keep better track of any spills of chemicals or dyes. Rosin paper—that weird shade of pink paper that comes in rolls and is available at home improvement stores or paint stores—is ideal. You can blue-tape it to the top of your work surface and you can write your recipes on it as you make up your color samples.
Rosin paper is preferred over newspaper because it’s absorbent while simultaneously providing a good barrier between spills and your underlying work surface. Layers of overlapping newspaper don’t provide the same protection and also, liquids can easily wend their way through the overlapping sections, and the print can transfer onto your wood.
Stearate coated sandpaper is best because it doesn’t clog up with sanding dust nearly as much as garnet sandpaper or aluminum oxide sandpaper. The samples in this book were sanded through five grits:120, 150, 180, 240 and 320.
However, some woodworkers don’t like to use stearate coated sandpaper on bare wood because it can leave traces of zinc stearate behind, which can possibly lead to adhesion issues when you apply a clear coat finish. If you do plan on using it, be sure to thoroughly remove all the sanding dust before you begin.
When mixing the formulas, the best stir stick is a tongue depressor because it is both wide and flat in the way that a spatula is when mixing batter. Their other advantage is that they are a neutral color so you can get an idea of the basic tonality of your solution before factoring in the background color of the wood. Tongue depressors are available from medical suppliers or from your friendly local doctor or nurse who is looking the other way.
If you run out of strainers and don’t have time to go to the store to buy some, an alternative method is to use women’s fine-mesh stockings. Cut about an 8" length that includes the foot. Strain your liquid through the foot.
Everyone Needs a Laugh
Brian ran out of cone strainers on a job one time. There were no nearby paint or hardware stores but there was a drug store, so he went there to buy a pair of nylons to use as a strainer.
“That’s really sweet of you to buy your wife some nylons,”the older checkout woman said to him.
“Oh no, I’m not married!” Brian—who never wears his wedding ring when he’s working with chemicals—told the woman. “I’m buying these for myself!”
The woman avoided looking at him for the rest of the transaction until she finally asked, “Do you want a bag?”
Brian replied enthusiastically, “No, that’s okay! I’m putting these on in my truck as soon as I get to the parking lot!”
Later that evening when Brian recounted his mischievousness to his wife, Nancy, she told him, “That is wrong on so many levels!”
Coffee stirrers and chopsticks are not wide enough to be quickly effective. You could, of course, use scrap wood that is suitably dimensioned but it must be clean of shavings, dust and residue.
Cone strainers made of heavy paper with mesh bottoms will capture any undissolved particles of chemicals or dyes, which could potentially leave a streak of color on your project if they were picked up by your brush. Of course, an acceptable alternative is a coffee cone filter. Paper towels are a last resort option because their natural absorbency presents additional challenges.