Hi,

I’ve been struggling a bit with the finish on my 2′ by 12′ wide pine board entertainment console. I sealed the pine boards with diluted Zinsser shellac sealer and i’ve been applying a combination of minwax’s red chestnut and english chestnut oil stain with a cloth ball, taking care to wipe off excess after 5 to 15 min after finishing the pieces. The piece looked nice when the oil stain was wet, but depth of color “faded” when rubbed off with a clean cloth.

In addition, i noticed several pig tail swirls from the sander (Festool 125mm).  Thinking that i would have to sand everything down and start over, i decided to reapply three more coats oil stain with 000 steel wool (Red, English, Red Chestnut). The finish is darker without blotches and while the pig tails are less noticeable (if you know where they are, but otherwise you wouldn’t find them).

Now, I’ve been applying Circa 1850 Antique Paste Varnish with a cloth ball, taking care to apply it thinly and rub it down with 000 steel wool after 10-12 hrs. On my 3rd coat, i used a scrapper with no flex and burl to basically take down the high spots followed by steel wool. The finish looks more even now.

However, I’m wondering if applying the paste varnish with steel wool would be a good idea since it really helped with the staining process.

Any thoughts about applying past varnish with steel wool would be greatly appreciated.

Kevin