: Today I ordered a new stitch and glue kit, a Bluefin, and that started me
: thinking about the finish (before I started, I know!) This will be the
: fourth boat I’ve worked on, two of us built three boats this year. I say
: two, one boat was for my wife, she only helped during fiber glassing, so I
: take credit for building most of two boats, but would have hated to do it
: without my partner who was an experienced wood worker.

: I’ve include a photograph of two of our boats.

: The stain idea came to me first when I bought Ted Moores’ new book “Kayaks
: You Can Build.” He describes in very clear detail the building of three
: boats. One, a Pygmy Coho, is finished with a green stained deck.

: It looks beautiful. The book is a masterpiece too.

: Then just yesterday I found the slide show that Nick Schade has provided
: about the building of a S&G Night Heron. That boat has some deck panels
: stained blue.

Not to mention the green and red puzzle panels!

: Today I searched this sites messages and found a detailed message by “Rascal”
: (http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Building/index.cgi/noframes/read/107524).
: This is a very good description of the staining process.

: There are many more messages on staining I should read. What I’ll do in the
: remainder of this message is describe what I think I understand, inserting
: some questions (You can find the questions by searching for a question
: mark “?”) , and see if some other points surface from you forum
: participants.

Limiting your search to the questions won't result in answers, only reassurance that we all ask the same questions...

: I. The staining must be done before any epoxy is applied.

Yes, stain will not adhere to plastic, only to bare wood. If you sand the epoxy off there will still be a residual substance that will repel the stain. So staining precedes even scarfing and stain repairs occur whenever tool touches wood.

: II. Water or alcohol-soluble dyes must be used. Oil and epoxy don’t mix.
: Moores mentions Aniline dyes.

The Aniline dye(s) used on the S&GNH were Behlen's Solar-Lux Non-Grain Raising (NGR)Stain, which is UV (fade) Resistant. I got mine at Woodworker's Supply (www.woodworker.com). I thought twice about staining; not only is it a super pain to keep touching up spots while building, but the label contains the following words which helped me change my mind: DANGER! POISON! FATAL, BLINDNESS, SKIN NOSE THROAT IRRITATION, PERMANENT BRAIN DAMAGE, FLASHFIRE.

: ?Are Aniline dyes a standard dye available at wood working stores?

Yes.

: III. The surface must be prepared carefully and a grain raising step is
: suggested where the grain is raised by sponging with a little warm water.
: Following that a sanding is done with 220 grit sanding across the grain.
: Finally this surface is vacuumed.

Being an NGR type stain you may be able to save some sanding work here! Also, try replacing the ROS with a cabinet scraper. One reason I build is to relieve stress and I find that power tools usually increase stress while good hand tools bring out the artist/craftsman nature.

: IV. The Moores takes another grain raising step (Here I wasn’t certain if
: this was in addition to Step III above). In this current step he applies a
: weak solution of the dye (50/50), then sands across the grain. He repeats
: here that it is important to keep a wet edge and to keep moving to avoid
: any puddles which change the intensity of the stain effect. Again he
: vacuums, using a brush attachment.

: V. Then a full strength dye is applied and again he counsels that one must
: watch carefully to avoid an variation in the application.

The Solar-Lux stain has two optional additives: 1. Reducer may be added if the color is too intense for you. 2. Retarder may be added (up to 10% without affecting color) to lengthen the drying time so you don't get lap marks. However, be warned that the mixing procedure does involve invoking underworld dieties and the sacrifice of small animals.

: VI. Following the full strength dye he allowed the panel to dry for
: twenty-four hours then lightly rubbed it down with a fine Scotchbrite pad.

: VII. Now comes the epoxy as a sealer. He used one coat of sealer, but suggest
: two could be used.

Moores is a great old school builder, but befor you guru-ize him check out featherweight boatbuilding. Anybody can make a heavy boat, and our first one usually was...

: ?Does this sealing step cause a problem by making the panels too stiff and
: thus increasing the difficulty of the stitching step?

I doubt it, but epoxy gets stiffer with age, don't wait too many years befor you start stitching.

: VII. All of the above happens before the deck panels are joined, later they
: are stitched together, and after that the deck is fiber glassed.

: ?When the deck is fiber glassed later the panels will require sanding for the
: epoxy/fiber glass to adhere, correct? Moores may spell that out but I
: haven’t found it yet. This is a big book.

Some people don't do sealer coats at all, the wood gets sealed when you squeegee the epoxy. I'd say it depends on how easily the glass wets out, but your bound to use less epoxy this way (and that's a good thing).

If the last coat is less than 72 hours old than the new epoxy will make a strong chemical bond so sanding is unnecessary or optional. If the last coat is older than 72 hours than you need to prepare the surfaces so you get a good mechanical bond. This usually means sanding with XXX grit (ask 10 people and get 10 different grits) I'll say 100-150.

You should also watch out for epoxy blush; a greasy or waxy substance that comes out of some epoxies a couple/few days into curing. A new layer of epoxy will not bond to blush, you'll see orange peel or birds eyes in contaminated areas. Wash blush off with warm soapy water- sanding won't do it! If you are using an epoxy that blushes you can try to apply the next coat before the blush occurs (maybe 60-70 hours?)

: BTW, I intend staining only the two middle deck panels (blue). I will paint
: the outside deck panels red, and the hull white.