Replies

1. 
   mrbird90 | Jan 18, 2007 05:52am | #1

   I have used Minwax conditioner and it works fairly well, there were some blotches but not a bad as on bare wood.  Follow the instructions on the can. The secret to staining pine is to finish sand with no more than 100 grit or the stains will not penetrate and when you wipe the stain it all comes off. Experiment with 100, and 120 grit to see which works for you.

2. 
   fussy | Jan 18, 2007 06:56am | #2

   Clarkie:

   The problem with pine ( and cherry, and lots of other woods ) is that there are areas of varying hardness and porosity causing the wood to absorb finishes unevenly which leads to a blotchy look.  Seal the pine with a coat of de-waxed shellac, let it dry, sand smooth with 220 tack it off, then stain with whatever you want to use.  You'll have much more control over the color this way, and it will be even.  As always, try it on scrap from your project first.  I built a colonial trestle desk out of construction grade yellow pine 31 years ago, and did it this way.  The patina now is amazing.  Good luck.

1. 
   dougmeyer | Jan 18, 2007 07:05pm | #3

   I am doing a lot of our new house with Clear pine for the trim. I have been using the preconditioner.  I tend to wait about 15 min from precon to stain then I flood stain and wipe off. I am using a fairly dark stain in order to get this to feel older as part of the "look" of the space. (it looks kind of like a Loft Style on the inside)

   The thing that I have found is that you need to be pretty consistent. Pine does not like inconsistency as far as I can tell. So I make sure to sand all surfaces at least lightly right before I precondition. I always use the same grit as changing that seams to have a huge effect (I go to either 180 or 220, I don't remember off hand which) and I make sure I use the same time between precondition and stain. If any of these change much I start getting inconsistent color.  Also I have pine doors (clear pine) that pretty much act the same. I would say that I am about 1/3 of the way done with the trim and I picked up I think it was 400 bd ft of pine to start with so I have been doing a lot of this lately. I mean my trim is only about 2" wide so you get a LOT of trim for the bd ft.

   Well hope that helps.

   Doug Meyer

3. 
   pzgren | Jan 18, 2007 08:22pm | #4

   Clarkie,

     In addition to conditioners and/or de-waxed shellac, using a gel stain helps reduce the amount of blotching on pine.

   Beste Wünschen auf ein glückliches und wohlbehaltenes Neues Jahr!

   Tschüß!

   Mit freundlichen holzbearbeitungischen Grüßen aus dem Land der Rio Grande!!

   James

4. 
   Omah | Jan 18, 2007 10:25pm | #5

   I get better results using a chemical stain first, like lye or tsp, then a water stain, then an oil stain if i need to bring it down some more. try a test piece.