[N/A] Staining Routed/Engraved Wood [N/A]

[Caramon13]

So my son is crossing over into Scouts and the cubmaster engraved a couple pine planks with the names of the kids and the pack. I'm going to stain/finish them this weekend.

Just wondering what others have done (if anything) for enhancing the engraved area in the wood? Or should I just stain the whole thing? I got a darker stain so was thinking of painting the engraved area white maybe? Or maybe just leaving it unpainted and staining the non-engraved areas of the wood. Just worried that the engraved areas will be washed out if I don't do something to them.

Also, dumb question, do you stain the top and back of the wood in one go, or do the top let it dry, do the back let it dry..etc?

Example attached.

Can you tell I'm a woodworking noob?

 

[Matthew]

My experience with stain is that the open grain of the routered areas will soak up more stain and be darker than the top surface. You could use a darker stain for more contrast. It's pretty simple, really, experiment with some scraps and see what you like.

 

[Caramon13]

My experience with stain is that the open grain of the routered areas will soak up more stain and be darker than the top surface. You could use a darker stain for more contrast. It's pretty simple, really, experiment with some scraps and see what you like.

Cool thanks. I think I have a lighter stain from when I stained a chest we built last year. I kinda like a darker outside and lighter lettering, but maybe it makes more sense to do the opposite..have to see how much of the other stuff I have to determine if that's even possible to reverse it.

 

[Matthew]

Cool thanks. I think I have a lighter stain from when I stained a chest we built last year. I kinda like a darker outside and lighter lettering, but maybe it makes more sense to do the opposite..have to see how much of the other stuff I have to determine if that's even possible to reverse it.

Here's an example of contrasts and different stains:

To do something similar you might have to find an opaque stain, similar to what you might use on a deck. It's a solid color, but it's a stain vs paint.

 

[jsstevens]

As to your "Do I do it all at once?"I did with my most recent project, but I had small blocks for it to sit on and I stained the bottom first, then set it on the blocks to do the sides & top.

I think it turned out nice...

 

[Caramon13]

As to your "Do I do it all at once?"I did with my most recent project, but I had small blocks for it to sit on and I stained the bottom first, then set it on the blocks to do the sides & top.

I think it turned out nice...

Thanks! That does look really nice and it looks like the stain in the engravings is darker too, like @Matthew mentioned. Did you do anything special to get that effect or did that just happen as a result of the stain settling in?

 

[jsstevens]

Thanks! That does look really nice and it looks like the stain in the engravings is darker too, like @Matthew mentioned. Did you do anything special to get that effect or did that just happen as a result of the stain settling in?

Thanks!

That happened as a result of those being laser cut. The laser burns the wood out. I just used the regular stain on the whole thing.The local WoodCrafter shop will do the laser part if you bring them a graphic.