Best way to sain this part

[Band Saw Box]

Hello Everyone
Evelyn gave be a set of Chip Carving knifes for Christmas I was planing on do that type of carving during the next few months of cold weather when its just it to cold to work out in the shop, well I found I cant do chip carving I think I may have arthritis in my right hand and it just hurts to much to hold the knife and cut so to take the place of that gift she got me a pre-cut clock kit from Cherrytree for Christmas, it a project I can work on in-side for the most part during those next few cold months. It a really nice kit and it should be fun to build. I would like some input as to stain the part in the picture, it has some really tight places that might be hard to brush. I'm thinking about dipping it but then too it would be kind of hard get the excess out of those tight places. So any ideas would be a big help. OK I know I could have save time a set the piece on the grass before I spilled the stain that was just poor planning on my part.

[Mick Walker]

Dan, I would think you could get the stain in those tight places with an artist brush, a cotton swab or flatten one end of a drinking straw and blow it in. You could also soak up the excess stain with a swab or blow it out with compressed air or the straw.
I agree, you could have saved time by thinking ahead and had your project out on the lawn.

[Catlyn]

Walmart has small foam brushes that might work. They're so cheap you can throw them away when you're done with the project.

[Band Saw Box]

Thanks Mick and Catlyn for the replays. I tried a cotton swab and it worked fairly well and they should do the job one problem with the kind I have which are regular cotton swaps and hey don't last long before they start to fall apart so I ordered some long stem wood swabs the kind you might find in a doctors office. I ordered them from Amazon and I should have them Saturday. I'm hoping they will work like I think they will they do handle liquid much better.

[Bill Wilson]

In situations like this, if I don't dip, I usually use a small artists brush. I just lay the piece on an old t-shirt or several layers of paper towels and slather the stain on, using the brush to work the stain into all the crevices, then use compressed air to blow out the excess. I've used Q-Tips before, but they can snag and leave fuzzies behind, so watch out for that.

[sawdust11703]

You can dip the piece then use your air compressor to blow out any excess that might be laying in those small tight areas. Just don't use too much psi. Keep it at 40 psi or under.

[Band Saw Box]

I shoud know tomorrow if the Swabs I orderd will work as I think they will. These are not regular Qtip type swabs. They have the wood stem that about 6" long and the tip are better able to handle liquid with out leaving fuzzies behind or at least I think they will. I'll add a post tomorrow to let everyone know how they work out. The temps here tomorrow should be in the 60's a good day to do some staining.

[Band Saw Box]

The swabs work great.

Hello all
The swabs arrived this morning and I have to say they work great even better then expected. They hold the stain very well and don't fall apart or leave fuzzies like regular cotton swabs do. I was able to get the area I need to stain done with one swab and it could do a lot more. I needed 3 of the other swabs to do the same thing. The package I ordered has 100 swabs in it so it should last a very long time. Here are some pictures of the swab tips. New, Used and what the area I stain with them looks like. That for the tip on cotton swabs Mick and for the tips from everyone else.