One wood stain is pretty much the same as any other, right? Well, not exactly. “Stain” is a catch-all word used to 
describe anything that colors wood, but the actual coloring agents in stains can be pigments, dyes, or a combination of both. Dyes and pigments have only one thing in common: they’re both colored particles that are used to add color to wood.
Knowing how dyes and pigments differ can open new possibilities when it comes to getting the staining effects you really want.
Size Matters
If you think of a typical dye particle as the size of a marble, the average pigment particle would be about the size of a ‘59 Buick. The size of the particle matters a great deal. While finely sanded wood may feel perfectly smooth to the touch, if you look at it under a microscope you’ll see that the sanded surface has thousands of peaks and valleys of various sizes. Obviously, the smaller dye particles are able to get down into tiny spaces where the pigment particles can’t go, so dyes will give a “deeper” looking stain effect than pigments.
Penetration or Colored Salt Vs Colored Sand
Think of dyes as colored salt. Dyes can be water-soluble, alcohol soluble, or oil-soluble. When you mix dyes in their appropriate solvent you get an evenly colored solution that stays evenly colored indefinitely. Pigments, on the other hand, are not soluble in any liquid. Think of pigments the way you would colored sand. Mix pigments in any liquid and eventually the particles will settle at the bottom of the container. As the liquid portion of your stain penetrates the wood surface it carries the dye with it into the wood, leaving pigments to settle on the surface or in larger wood pores. The solubility of dyes give them an edge when it comes to wood penetration.
Advantages of Dyes
Dye stains typically lend a deep, even, “transparent” color to wood because they penetrate so well. When you flood it on and wipe off all the excess, the net result is color that is in the wood rather than on the wood.
Advantages of Pigments
Pigmented stains typically lend a more “opaque” color to wood because the large pigment particles remain on or near the surface of the wood. The large size of the pigment particle has distinct advantages. Some woods, such as oak and ash have areas of very small-pore late wood and large pore early wood. When you flood on the pigment stain and wipe off all the excess, most of the pigment will remain in the large pores, dramatically accentuating the figure in the wood.
Pigment/Dye Combinations
Most ready-made oil-based stains such as Minwax, Olympic and Valspar, contain a combination of pigments and dyes – the best of both worlds, so to speak. Flood it on, wipe it off, and you’ll have the depth of penetrating dyes in small pore areas and the contrast of pigments in larger pores. But don’t forget to mix these stains as you use them: the dye colors remain constant throughout the mix, but the pigments will settle to the bottom!
Leave a Reply