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In a water-based stain thinning process, how much of water percentage is the maximum amount of water it becomes too much?

My goal is to try to stain with different thinness to try different shades of the same stain. But my problem is knowing how far can I go in the thinning process? And where there is a limiting factor after which the stain becomes too thinned?

caveman
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    What brand are we talking about here? Have you checked their recommendations? [Edit] the question to provide these details. –  Dec 13 '21 at 14:09
  • What do you want the answer to be? I have blended a number of water and solvent based stains; never measured, I just dilute until I got the color I wanted. – blacksmith37 Dec 13 '21 at 15:57
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    Please add the detail @jdv asked for. If you don't want to list brand(s) for any reason at least be specific about the type or types of stain you mean — 'waterbased stain' is by no means one thing, there are multiple types and they can be very different (to the point of being completely different products, with corresponding effect on acceptable dilution levels). – Graphus Dec 14 '21 at 19:07

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This is a staining job not a finishing job. You are also doing an experiment. Think of finding this answer to be another variable.

I'm sure at some point, the stain will be mostly unnoticed, and this point will be different depending on the darkness of the original color you begin with (Oak vs Walnut). But ultimately the stain will continue to 'work' it just will get to the point it is worthless for any obvious change to the wood, you're just making it wet then.

But I would guess, depending on the original color, you can dilute between 100% (1:1) to 400% (4:1) water to stain and still have some color depending. Non-wood color stains I think can be more diluted, say green or blue, while an 'oak' stain might be fairly useless at %50 (1:2).

What matters is what color you start with, and how much color you want to make a difference. Since you are already experimenting, you'll find this limit. Just make small samples for your tests (and good notes!)

bowlturner
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  • This means that there is no limitation on percentage of strain-to-water other than the colour? My concern is if the the percentage of water increases for "too much" then the stain won't stick or some other technical difficulties? – caveman Dec 13 '21 at 16:07
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    Stain is just a pigment floating in a solution. Thinning it out doesn't reduce it's chemical properties, just how much has a chance to bind to the material. Finishes on the other hand I think are a different bird entirely. – bowlturner Dec 13 '21 at 16:12
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    Experiment +1 Samples + good notes +10! – Volfram K Dec 14 '21 at 08:06
  • You've included what I think is the single most important general point about this sort of thing; doing multiple tests is sort of inherent to the Q, but the importance of keeping detailed notes is seldom emphasised enough — nobody can be sure they'll remember what sample 6 of 15 was five years later! Test strips such as pictured in this Answer become essentially useless without all the relevant information about what was done. – Graphus Dec 14 '21 at 19:18
  • And I think you make an excellent point that non-wood colours may tend to be more evident at high dilution. However there's also darkness to consider, and with a v dark stain even at extremely high dilution you're likely to see an effect, even perhaps on woods that wouldn't be classed as light in colour. Traditional walnut stain is an excellent old-school example, Indian ink a good modern example. – Graphus Dec 14 '21 at 19:21
  • @Graphus I was thinking about Walnut vs Oak, Walnut being able to be diluted much more, I hinted at it, but you're right I was not specific. – bowlturner Dec 14 '21 at 20:07