# Knotty Alder Finishing Help



## Mattjp18 (Jan 22, 2012)

Hi, I'm pretty new to posting on these forums and also have a tiny bit of experience with finishing wood. I'm in the process of finishing our basement and have ordered some knotty alder interior doors. My wife loves the look of these doors and I'm looking for assistance on how to stain these to achieve a similar look. They seem less orange to me. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Matt


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## CaptainKlutz (Apr 23, 2014)

Alder can be challenging to stain or add color during finishing. The grain is very subtle, or muted; and it likes to blotch Any strong pigmented stain will hide the subtle grain,or make it disappear. Commercial dark stained alder is usually toned with dye strain or with shaded lacquer top coat to lesson grain hiding. 
IMHO - That door picture looks white washed or coated with pickling stain to me?

Alder has enough finishing challenges, WWW has many posts on topic. Alder is cheap and readily available here in Arizona. Here is write up in Finishing Alder local supplier that might get you started:
https://www.woodworkerssource.com/blog/woodworking-101/tips-tricks/6-alder-wood-finishes-for-rustic-reclaimed-weathered-or-distressed-looks/

Here's a more complicated commercial finishing method.
http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Staining_and_Blending_Difficult_Woods.html

Best Luck.


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

Be very careful in coloring Alder. Your door looks nice you don't what to ruin it. Listen to the advice here and follow it. Probably the best advice is practice on scrap wood until you get it right.

This is what you get if you just slop brown stain on Alder. I don't think you want this.


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## Mattjp18 (Jan 22, 2012)

No I don't want that at all! I'm definitely going to gather up some advice and practice on a lot of scrap wood.


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

> No I don t want that at all! I m definitely going to gather up some advice and practice on a lot of scrap wood.
> 
> - Mattjp18


I didn't think you did. lol


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## bruc101 (Sep 13, 2008)

I heard a guy say one time, the best way to finish Alder is to leave it alone and maybe spray some lacquer or poly on it.
Other than that, take some stress pills.


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## Mattjp18 (Jan 22, 2012)

> I heard a guy say one time, the best way to finish Alder is to leave it alone and maybe spray some lacquer or poly on it.
> Other than that, take some stress pills.
> 
> - bruc101


I'm already on an antidepressant, do you think that will help?


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## CaptainKlutz (Apr 23, 2014)

2 tips about finishing alder:

1) Spraying the finish is usually best way to reduce blotch problems. 
Blotching requires excess stain to be applied. When you spray color (even if you intend to wipe it off), you will apply less stain; plus you can see where the finish is sucked into wood instantly and avoid adding more color that creates darker blotch like those shown in AlaskaGuys' pic's.

2) IMHO - Shellac is also best blotch control for Alder. Use 1lb cut, and spray it on fairly heavy. If any areas stay wet for longer than a minute, can wipe off excess as it's not needed. Sand smooth when dry. The intent is to soak those thirsty blotch prone areas with shellac sealer. Note - If you use a sealer, alder will take less color. Hence, sealed Alder requires heavier color concentration than unsealed alder for same final color. This is one reason that difficult to stain woods like alder are often colored in multiple steps: base dye, glaze, and toned top coat.

BTW - Be sure to check the commercial doors for hidden glue residue. If they didn't clean up panel seam well enough, or water washed squeeze out in corners; even your perfect finishing recipe will look bad. Lacquer thinner wipe down or UV/Black light inspection works for me. 
http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Glue_Spots_that_Appear_After_Stain_is_Applied.html

+1 Practice, practice, practice ON SIMILAR SCRAP lumber.

Best Luck.


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## Mattjp18 (Jan 22, 2012)

Thanks for the advice CaptainKlutz, I'm planning on picking up a HVLP sprayer tonight and practicing on some alder this week. Any recommendation on a sprayer to get? Also, would I put down the shellac first and then use something like transtint for the base dye?


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## runswithscissors (Nov 8, 2012)

I have used water based acrylic on alder with good results. Sprayed it with HVLP, no stain. Water based poly would work too.

I confess that I am a true agnostic about stain. I admit I do use it occasionally, but my preference is to use the wood that I want the wood to look like. My dad used to make stuff out of ponderosa pine, which blotches horribly with stain (he always used walnut stain) because he felt he couldn't afford real wood. In my nightmares, I picture someone trying to stain walnut (or rosewood, or purple heart) to make it look like cheap pine.


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