Staining Boxwood... blotchy...?

[Kenneth]

Howdy,

I am having some difficulty staining a small piece of boxwood (a violin chinrest.)

I am using a Behlen NGR stain, but the results (when viewed from certain angles) are rather blotchy.

Might there be something that I should be applying before the stain that would make the results more uniform in color?

Thanks for any tips,

[SonomaProducts.com]

No experience with Box but wash coats generally can help, ie a very thined coat of shellac, or pre-stain conditioner (pretty much the same thing) before staining. But actually any wood that will blotch is never really totally fixed by this method.

I think it's best to go with a toned film finish. Just put trans tint dye into shellac or lacquer. You need to apply very even coats and control overlaps but go a little lighter than you want and build to the depth of color you want.

The down side of this method is you start to obscure the wood grain but with Box I don't think there is much to obscure... right?

[Kenneth]

Hi again,

I'll give it a shot, and sincerely appreciate the suggestion,