Sanding sealer with dye or stain.

Are any of you guys sanding sealer users? I have some that i have been using hwile working inlays to stop discoloration of the different woods from sanding dust.

I have seen that folks have said they dye and or stain after applying sanding sealer. Is this common? To me it seems that the sealing part would minimise the stain and/or dye effect.

I defer to some of you funature builders with more experience...

Sealer is often somewhat of a generic term that can apply to many different types of product, intended for quite a few different applications. Just like the term lacquer means 10 totally different things. This is true that many "sealers" will prevent a dye, or stain from penetrating in many situations.

I will have to keep the use you mentioned in mind, and seal with a wash coat of shellac the next time I have to sand a darker wood next to something light and porous like holly.

The purpose of the sanding sealers I use is generally to raise the grain, and lock it down before a final scuff sanding to make the surface smooth again prior to spraying top coats. I typically apply stains before applying a sanding sealer. I hate staining wood to begin with but at times you have to.

There is a point where you seal the wood to a certain extent a stain, or dye can no longer penetrate. At this point you can pigment top coats and create a Toner. Where this gets more complicated is that there are often products designed to adhere to sealed surfaces that are sold as stains. I don't know why they have to create confusing terminology, and often products will tell you to do stuff on the can that isn't quite ideal.

Ideally you want a stain to penetrate however in certain woods especially maple, birch, pine, and to a lesser extent cherry the stain will not penetrate evenly. The key is to control this.

You can saturate the wood with a stain controller (mostly solvent, with a bit of linseed oil, for oil based stains) Or experiment with a very thin wash coat of a sealer. I tried sealing white oak once with 1lb cut shellac and I had to strip it off because I could not get the oil based wiping stain I was using to penetrate much at all, and it was not a product meant to adhere and dry on the surface.

Of course another alternative is to spray light coats of a no wipe dye stain, then seal, and tone as needed to even out the color even more.

You really have to experiment. This is one of those areas of finishing where there are such a wide range of products, and techniques. When preparing samples it is really critical to follow the entire sanding/prep, and finishing schedule that you will on the final piece. If you sand your sample to 150 grit really quickly, and you sand the final piece to 220 you will likely see a difference the darkness, and or color. You really have to play around and try things to see what really works well.