Sealing Basswood Carvings

Jim Hingst explains how he uses thinned polyurethane varnish to seal carvings before staining to prevent blotching.

Some woods are very absorbent. Basswood is one of those woods. Because of its absorbency, it should be sealed before staining. If you don’t seal it, don’t be surprised if some parts of the carving absorb more stain than other parts, resulting in a blotchy appearance. 

After sealing my carving with thinned polyurethane varnish, a  light-colored gel  stain was applied. 

In Why Seal Wood Before Staining I recommend shellac as a sealer. You have other alternatives to shellac. You could use a wood conditioner, such as Minwax® Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. Be aware that wood conditioners are not the same thing as a sanding sealers. Only use a sanding sealer if you are not staining the wood but just coating the substrate with a clean finish, such as varnish.

Sealing Wood with Polyurethane Varnish.

Another option is to seal the wood with thinned polyurethane varnish. I have recently used this mixture on two carvings with great success. Here’s what I did.

• After sanding, wipe the wood clean of any dust with a lint-free rag dampened with mineral spirits or a tack cloth.
• Prepare a 50:50 mixture of polyurethane varnish and mineral spirits.
• Using a paint brush, coat the surface of the carvings with the thinned varnish. If the wood is thirsty, it will drink up plenty of the mixture.
• Allow 24 to 48 hours for the thinned varnish to dry. If there is any dried contaminate on the surface of the wood, buff the surface with 0000 steel wool to remove the debris.  After this procedure, wipe the surface clean with a tack rag.
• Apply a second coating of the thinned varnish mixture to the carving. Again, I used a 50:50 mixture.
• After allowing 24 to 48 hours for the thinned varnish to thoroughly dry, I stained the carvings with gel stain.
• The finishing touch was to apply two coats of polyurethane varnish. 

The eagle carving was sealed, stained and then coated with polyurethane varnish.

The basswood carving above was sealed and stained, Afterwards a colored wax was applied to the carving.

Sealing before staining ensures a uniform appearance.

About Jim Hingst: After fourteen years as Business Development Manager at RTape, Jim Hingst retired. He was involved in many facets of the company’s business, including marketing, sales, product development and technical service.

Hingst began his career 42 years ago in the graphic arts field creating and producing advertising and promotional materials for a large test equipment manufacturer.  Working for offset printers, large format screen printers, vinyl film manufacturers, and application tape companies, his experience included estimating, production planning, purchasing and production art, as well as sales and marketing. In his capacity as a salesman, Hingst was recognized with numerous sales achievement awards.

Drawing on his experience in production and as graphics installation subcontractor, Hingst provided the industry with practical advice, publishing more than 150 articles for  publications, such as  Signs Canada, SignCraft,  Signs of the Times, Screen Printing, Sign and Digital Graphics and  Sign Builder Illustrated. He also posted more than 325 stories on his blog (hingstssignpost.blogspot.com). In 2007 Hingst’s book, Vinyl Sign Techniques, was published.

© 2016 Jim Hingst