I ask because I'm a little confused. I bought the San Francisco 1942 set, and it is plain wood. Wouldn't it have been Deck Blue? I know some are sold already stained. Are there any tips for staining one that comes as plain wood?

Thanks!

Wipe on, let it soak in, wipe off the excess: http://www.amazon.com/Minwax-30807-Express-Wiping-Finish/dp/B004CFGA2G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1421698679&sr=8-2&keywords=blue+wood+stain If it's not the correct color repeat until it is.

Oh, and tape it down to something solid before you apply the stain so the wood doesn't curl...

I wouldnt use any stain that was water based. Oil based would be better.

Bill

Jim Corley at Nautilus Models also recommends staining both sides of his decks in order to prevent curling. That way both sides are equally affected by the stain.

Jon

Thanks so much! I really like the effects of these wood decks, and this will help a ton!

Would that still work on self-adhesive decks, such as Artwox?

No, it wouldn't work on self adhesive decks as the wood has to be exposed to take the stain. You should be okay if you tape it down to something solid and stain the top.

The important thing to remember is that it isn't paint, so follow the directions on the bottle/tube/can. You also don't want to let it dry before you take off the excess. Again, follow the directions...

I still think thats risky. Taping it down with double sided tape so you can stain it, you may risk damaging it trying to get it back up. I still would not use a waterbase stain for such thin material.

Bill

Personally I think any typical staining processes, whether oil base, enamel or water should work.

Best thing in all cases is in fact to tape you work down as best you can. Some adhesive tapes, especially double-back, are almost a little too strong for the task. Standard painter's tape (Mostly blue) come in different grades of stickiness! If you use something like a piece of cardboard a little bigger than the sections of decking you are working on, you can place the tape, sticky side up and tape the ends or wrap around to the underside and still tape the ends, to keep it all in place.

I know this is not decking material, but it is similar thin natural wood. All wood, especially thinner stock, has the tendency to to curl when any liquid is applied.



In this case, I used the plastic kit part as the base of operations and wrapped the tape around to the back. By taping you prevent SOME of this curling. Being extremely thin, the curl is easily handled with tactful placement of the deck on the ship.

This was done using a couple versions of acrylic Model Wash.



In the case of acrylics, your color pallet is wide open ad you can make the washes (stain in this case) from any color by thinning a particular color you like to a wash constancy.

Enamels work excellent for this as I have used them to stain many different smaller wood items. I do know that there is a Pznzer Blue wash that might fit the bill. Again, you can also thin any enamel paint down to the consistency of regular house stain and this will work.





Finally, you should be fine with regular stain and staining methods but if possible, and this goes for all of the mediums I mentioned, a test piece is suggested. While it is not always easy to find the correct species of wood used for the deck, Popsicle sticks, tongue depressors, bass wood planking from a LHS work well as a replacement.

Try varying thinning of any of the products to get the right look you are looking for. If you start off with a thinned down coat, you can always go darker...a bit harder if not impossible to go the other way!

Good luck!!

I don't use double sided tape as I tape down the edges to a block of wood with duct tape. When I refer to the edges, I don't remove the deck from the wood sheet it's on until after it's been stained and dried.

Doing it now on a deck, and it's never been a problem nor do I anticipate one now.

And I'm using an oil stain...