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Question about basswood


Keifer

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Basswood stains fine but it has a very visible grain when it's stained, so it depends on what look you're going for. I think stained basswood looks great for trim. For furniture or something with a bigger visible surface (like a floor or tabletop) it can be hit or miss. Sometimes light stain doesn't show up well and dark stain comes out kind of blotchy. It also depends what stain you use.

I'm not saying don't use it - I do all the time! But there are definitely nicer woods for staining, like cherry or maple, so it depends on how fancy you want to be and how easy it is to find those. If I could get cherry in all the sizes I can get basswood in from my local stores, I would.

(Miranda - that table looks awesome!)

 

 

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I stained some 1/16th strips and it soaked it right up - was quite dark. I used these for trim and it was fine. Definitely test your stain. I am finging more and more as I make things that I need a relatively light stain to get the color I am wanting. Even the red oak stain pen at the store ends up looking very dark on these craft woods.

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Thanks everyone, I knew I would get some good answers from the group.  Being a softer wood I thought it might soak up the stain quite a bit. 

Optional....if somebody wanted to give me a quick pros/cons list for basswood, that would be cool. 

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48 minutes ago, Keifer said:

Holly, when you say walnut and maple...are you referring to the wood used or the stain used on the basswood? 

The stain, I use basswood whether I'm making up a kit or building from scratch.  The grain is small enough to work in scale; I even used it to make the 1:24 dining room set I made for my Fairfields (more maple stain):

diningroom.JPG

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I was just reading an old issues of Dollhouse Miniatures.They we’re taking about the fur that you get when you use a water based paint on basswood.  After sanding and doing a second coat it makes it worse. They said to use a clear penetrating solvent base stain like Min-wax or tung oil......English Scatch Cover Furniture polish.........or wax shoe polish in the can (its a wax) so you don’t have to use lacquer over it.  You allow the piece to dry and buffing it with fine steel wool. You can use black shoe polish over brown stain if you want an aged look. 

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9 minutes ago, Mineejv said:

I was just reading an old issues of Dollhouse Miniatures.They we’re taking about the fur that you get when you use a water based paint on basswood.  After sanding and doing a second coat it makes it worse. They said to use a clear penetrating solvent base stain like Min-wax or tung oil......English Scatch Cover Furniture polish.........or wax shoe polish in the can (its a wax) so you don’t have to use lacquer over it.  You allow the piece to dry and buffing it with fine steel wool. You can use black shoe polish over brown stain if you want an aged look. 

I use a plain paper towel and rub the fur off. It’s almost like burnishing it. Others use crumpled brown bags. The wood comes out so smooth.  It works very well on balsa too.

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3 hours ago, Mineejv said:

I was just reading an old issues of Dollhouse Miniatures.They we’re taking about the fur that you get when you use a water based paint on basswood.  After sanding and doing a second coat it makes it worse. They said to use a clear penetrating solvent base stain like Min-wax or tung oil......English Scatch Cover Furniture polish.........or wax shoe polish in the can (its a wax) so you don’t have to use lacquer over it.  You allow the piece to dry and buffing it with fine steel wool. You can use black shoe polish over brown stain if you want an aged look. 

Thanks for the tip! Are you supposed to use one of those before applying the water based stain, or after? I think after (otherwise wouldn't it interfere with the stain penetrating?), but just want to make sure I understand. :)

 

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I used water-based oak stain on both the Reallife Victorian parlor furniture kit pieces and HOM dining table & chairs without "fur".  I did use the crumpled brown paper bag on it and then a coat of lacquer.

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1 minute ago, Mineejv said:

I wonder why the brown bag works?

It is gently abrasive, knocks off the fuzz without digging into the surface. Brown bag, dry paper towel ... all the same.

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