Which woods blotch easily?

[JSpill]

I know cherry can often blotch when applying stain. I'm wondering about ash. Also, what other woods should I be concerned about when planning to apply a stain? Thanks.

[Rob Young]

Ash, not so much.

Birch, maple (sometimes), pines & firs (various but for me, real "white pine" is pretty even).

And in general, any piece that is highly visible in your finished piece and you are fully confident that it won't blotch. That wood will blotch.

[jteneyck]

I know cherry can often blotch when applying stain. I'm wondering about ash. Also, what other woods should I be concerned about when planning to apply a stain? Thanks.

Ash is one of the more forgiving woods to stain, a lot like red oak.  But any wood will blotch if you have tear out or otherwise rougher areas, so uniform preparation is key to success.  

John

[JSpill]

Thank you for the info. I have used Charles Neil's Blotch Control when finishing cherry a while ago. It worked great in eliminating any blotching. I'm finishing an ash grandfather clock and will probably coat it with Blotch Control to help prevent any surprises.

[Rob Young]

Thank you for the info. I have used Charles Neil's Blotch Control when finishing cherry a while ago. It worked great in eliminating any blotching. I'm finishing an ash grandfather clock and will probably coat it with Blotch Control to help prevent any surprises.

I'm sure C.N. will appreciate the extra material sales.  I've only tried it a few times and while it did work, did you also find that it also reduces the color penetration (which makes sense) so things seem a bit lighter than when you do a test board without the conditioner?  It seemed kinda subtle and I can't remember if I used the same board for test pieces but the cherry samples I did seemed ever so slightly different.  Except of course for the blotch part.

[JSpill]

When I used the Blotch Control on cherry I did not stain the cherry afterwords. After the BC I applied several coats of Waterlox. Everything looked nice. I don't know if BC will tend to lighten a stain applied.

[Woodenfish]

Charles Neil warns that the use of regular store bought stains don’t have the quality pigment and recommends dye stain to give wanted color over his blotch control. Blotch control is more needed with more resinous woods or woods with reversing grain. Oaks and Ash do not require such a product as wood conditioner or blotch control.

[Rob Young]

Charles Neil warns that the use of regular store bought stains don’t have the quality pigment and recommends dye stain to give wanted color over his blotch control. Blotch control is more needed with more resinous woods or woods with reversing grain. Oaks and Ash do not require such a product as wood conditioner or blotch control.

One of his books has "formulas" for various dye stain colors made up from a small sub-set of colors.  Versions of the formula for GF, Transtint and Lockwood dyes.  Well worth the cost of the book if only I could find it and tell everybody the title...

Also he turned me on to the cheap stain sponges from Harbor Freight.  They are one of the gems, had nothing but good results with them and cheap too!