staining Pine

[Mook Johnson]

I'm trying to match some stained pine furniture in my bedroom with a new audio system rack I'm building.

The color they have it is an approximation to oak but more orange(warm) and dark with a satin finish.

Its pretty close to in between these colors.

I little darker than this

but less shading than this

have the book "understanding wood finishes" by Flexner (excellent resource) but he has several approaches, with varying success, of staining pine without it blotching. he recommend not staining pine at all due to its issues but that is not an option for me.

As a test I found bought olympic "controlled penetration" stain from lowes on a test piece of pine craft board and that stuff blotched badly and didn't have the warm color that I saw on the pine display piece. :(

Heres my new plan.

1) Sand to a 320 grit finish. 2) Put on a light spitcoat of thinned shellac. 3) Lightly Sand again 4) Use Wood-Kote thick gel stain and apply as many times as required to get the darkness 5) seal with satin polyurethane (Minwax) or lacquer or shellac.

I have a sprayer/compresor but no spray booth for dust free (working in a garage). I'd probably have to spray outside where its cool now (50-70F), high humidity in the 80+% range but not too windy.

Does it make a difference if I use knotty pine paperback veneer instead of plywood if I make sure the substrate is stable? Does the veneer take stain differently?

Suggestions to my plan?

[bmejerle]

Mook,

I just finished staining over 450 linear feet of pine T&G planking. I had good success using the Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. Without the conditioner the stain appeared blotchy and uneven. I was very pleased with the results after using the conditioner.

After staining, I applied multiple coats of polyurethane, where I lightly sanded between coats. Also, I applied all of the materials using a good brush and painters cloth to wipe off the excess stain.

Regards,

Bob

[Walt Cheever]

I used Minwax wood conditioner, the SECOND time I read the directions and applied stain right away after the conditioner. I also used gel stain, because it stayed on top of the surface rather than soaking in. Worked out well, minimal variation and blotches.

[Duane Bozarth]

Don't try to oversand on pine...more than about 220 is a waste of time imo...

Use a sanding sealer even before the shellac...then you may not need the shellac.

Of course, a yellow shellac could be useful for achieving the tint you desire.

Test on large enough piece of actual material before committing to project.

[Will]

[SonomaProducts.com]

You are getting good advice here. The Minwax pre-stain is a must for Pine. Slosh it on, wipe it down and stain away.

Also, rougher grits will allow the stain to penetrate easier. Going to

320 will make it much harder to get the color to go dark enough.

I am doing a color right now that uses Minwax Puritan Pine and then I wash over it with a dark brown glaze and wipe it off immediately. It significanly darkens and changes the tone of the color but it gives me to old look I want for these pieces.

I use poly, lacquer or shellac depending on the piece but it's all the same for me.

You can see an example at

. Make sure to expand the picture to get a better look.