Q: Do I need to raise the grain before using water soluble dye?
A: You don’t need to, but it is certainly a good idea. When you get done sanding, the wood cells on the surface are shredded. These shreds will generally stand up once water hits them. If you are lucky, the tiny fibers will take dye completely, but sometimes they take color only on their outer surface, and not all the way to the core.
Once the first coat of finish is on, these standing fibers, hardened by the finish, will create a slightly rough or furry surface. When you go to sand the surface smooth, there is a possibility that if the fibers did not dye all the way through, you could cut through them and end up with tiny uncolored spots in the middle of each fiber. Raising the grain before staining will prevent this, since once the grain is raised and de-furred, it won’t raise again. Here’s how to do it.
Sand the piece to whatever grit of paper you think is smooth enough, then sponge the wood with plenty of clean water. Don’t just wipe a damp cloth over it; really wet it thoroughly. Once it is wet, go back and wipe off all the water on the surface so you leave no standing puddles. Let the wood dry overnight.
The next day, you will feel a light fur on the surface. That’s the shredded wood fibers standing erect. Remove them by sanding very lightly and quickly using very fine paper, 400 grit or finer. Think of it like shaving; you want to remove the tiny hairs standing up, but not cut into the skin below. Just remove the fur, then stop. If you sand too far, you will simply re-shred a new layer of wood fibers, and those newly shredded fibers will stand up when they come into contact with the water or alcohol in dye.
Michael Dresdner
straight talk about wood finishing