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So, I haven't been able to keep my white rings white. When I sand, the dye from the stummel transfers over. What step am I missing in this process? How can I keep the authentic white color? HELP!!!

Simple, don't get dye on the rings, electrical tape helps.

Shape the stummel with the ring on (dont glue yet). Remove the ring while staining. Then glue ring on after.

andrew wrote:Shape the stummel with the ring on (dont glue yet). Remove the ring while staining. Then glue ring on after.

That can work on a lot (sometimes not all) designs. If you want to hold it in place a bit more firmly use the tiniest little dab of superglue, that will hold it firm enough for sahping and sanding but you should still be able to twist it off when it comes to staining. A small dab of hot melt glue also works well but makes more of a gap.

Alternatively, if you use non-porous materials, you can prevent bleeding. Acrylics, ebonites, and really dense hardwoods all work.

OR!

If you sand everything to a really high grit(I use abralon pads for the majority of my stem polishing) you make it far more difficult for any residual stain to penetrate the accent ring. Staining and sanding carefully also help with this.

OR!

You can attach the accent ring to the stem, not to the shank. This makes it easy to avoid staining your lovely rings. Just remove the stem and re-attach for sanding. If you work very carefully you can minimize the sanding done on the ring, which tends to help prevent tainting the natural color.

Gershom wrote:So, I haven't been able to keep my white rings white. When I sand, the dye from the stummel transfers over. What step am I missing in this process? How can I keep the authentic white color? HELP!!!

"When I sand..."

If you seal the white portion with some kind of clear finish, it will prevent a lot of this from happening. Closes the grain, keeps the colored dust from getting in the pores.

Thanks guys. I am going to try all of these methods and see which I like the best.