I’m tying to build my own bookshelves right now. It’s turning out a whole lot cheaper to slap some 1 x 10’s together to fit the awkward space than it is to buy a new bookshelf. But I’ve come across a problem. I’m prepping the boards for staining, and I’ve found all sorts of printing/stamping on almost all the boards. How do I get this off? I’ve tried sanding the area, but that’s going to take more elbow grease than I’ve got. Will it come off with water? Alcohol? Can I just put the stain over it?
Also, do they put this printing on every board? If I had bought more expensive wood, would it be there? I pretty much just walked into the hardware store and told them I needed 1 x 10’s and what size to cut them. Is there a special kind of wood that I should ask for when I decide to make another set of bookshelves?
This is my first furniture project that doesn’t include duct tape or cinderblocks and I have no idea what I’m doing.
That ink does not come off. trust me on this I’ve tried. It is designed to stay on through all sorts of mishandling in lumberyards and such places. For interior casework you would want to buy “clear” or “S4S” lumber. It costs a bit more but you get clear grain, mostly straight, without blemishes or markings.
Hiding it may be a good choice - if the printing is on the face of a board, turn that face so that it’ll be covered by books, or it’ll be the underside of a shelf.
If the printing is on the edge, make that the back edge (facing the wall, or the back edge of the shelf). I assume that you don’t have any power tools but you could purchase an inexpensive plane and shave off the edge a bit if it’s got printing. That’ll be much faster than sanding it off. Or a friend with a tablesaw could rip 1/16" width off in a jiffy.
What type of wood are you using? If it’s common pine, be aware that pine is a little troublesome to stain evenly, the different areas of wood absorb stain differently which can lead to ugly blotching. Some hints:
Sand everything smooth - it’s a little bother but well worth it. Start with a coarser grade sandpaper to knock off the high spots, then do passes with finer grits. Use 80 or 100 grit first, then maybe 120 or 150 and go to 200 or 220 if you like.
Seal the wood before staining. This helps stain go on more evenly. You can use clear shellac (I use Zinser, great stuff) or a prestain conditioner (which is basically a thinned stain) or even both. It should also help any printing from “bleeding through” the finish.
If you want to have a nice stain and a decent topcoat you can use one of the “all-in-one” stain+topcoats like Minwax Polyshades. I use it for general projects and it’s pretty nice. Follow the directions - a couple of thin coats with adequate drying time between and a gentle scuffing with very fine sandpaper or better yet steel wool in-between coats will make for a beautiful finish.
Finishing isn’t expensive (you’re talking about $20-$30 for stain, sandpaper, etc) but it takes a little time and you can’t rush it. However the effort you put in is really, really worth it. The difference between a nice finish and a crappy one is amazing.
I used to make furniture and other items from packing cases and pallets; very often, the printed markings on this timber was not only done with very durable ink, but was also embossed slightly into the surface of the wood; the only way to be rid of it was to plane to below the depth of the embossing, but even this was not immune to difficulty - you might plane down far enough to remove all traces of ink, but because you hadn’t gone down far enough to remove the crushed wood fibres underneath the lettering, subsequent dampness (particularly if using a water-based treatment) would cause the crushed fibres to swell more than the surrounding wood and the lettering would suddenly return as a relief pattern on the wood surface.