Finishing problem how to fix splotchy

Also, is your question how do I fix it? or how do I not make this happen again?

You really need to tell us more. Both the woof and your finishing recipe.

ideas/suggestions?

trying to figure out what caused it and how to fix it.

the wood is soft white oak the finish is Bartley's gel stain. I thought gel stain would be most forgiving for my first attempt and something real.

"Stacey" wrote in news:SYidnX4 snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

"Soft white oak"? This is outside my experience.

Gel stains are pretty good for avoiding splotchy, but not invincible. White oak is pretty good for not splotching, but I don't know of this "soft" white oak. Of course, there are several dozen species marketed as white oak.

Since you are using a gel stain, you could seal _under_ the stain, with shellac, perhaps, _after_ you sand the offending parts back to bare wood. And if what you have is punky, or spalted oak, that sealer may be the only way to get a consistent finish color.

Patriarch

Possibly not sanded as well as the rest and the rougher areas absorbed more stain. If that is the case, resanding (well)/staining should fix it.

BTW, white oak isn't soft.

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What kind of wood? What kind of finish?

I don;'t know what I was typing. I should have said soft white maple.. Thanks..

"Stacey" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

That 'splains things. Soft maple can and will splotch on occaision. Sand it back, and give it a diluted coat of Zinnser SealCoat dewaxed shellac (dilute with denatured alcohol 1:1), then back to your gel stain after 2-3 hours.

Some of us use soft maple a lot. And shellac as the finish coat, too.

Patriarch, whose keyboard sometimes writes things he didn't intend... ;-)