For what its worth, when I refinish, I use chemical stripper and if I sand
at all, its lightly to remove any fuzz raised by the stripper. This will
preserve a lot of the original color/patina of the wood. When the wood
dries it looks very light which is why most run to the stain can. Wet the
wood with mineral spirits first to see what it will look like with a finish.
In most cases you won't find it necessary to stain unless you are trying to
match an existing piece or the component wood is terribly mismatched which
creates a staining challenge in itself.

Certain woods do not take stain evenly (cherry, pine, soft maple) resulting
in the blotching you experienced. As suggested, a stain conditioner will
help as it pre-saturates the wood with the stain carrier (linseed oil or
whatever) and partially seals it resulting in a more even take up of the
stain when applied. An alternative approach is to use gel stains which are
formulated to stay mostly on the surface resulting in less blotching.

As for fixing your existing problem, I think your best bet is to go darker
and try to even it out with a gel stain unless you want to try your hand at
shading laquers.

I'd like to find the person who started the urban myth that aggressive
sanding is a necessary step in removing an old finish. Probably the same
one that started the myth that staining is a mandatory step in finishing.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I'm attempting to refinish a crappy old desk. This is my first
refinishing project and I hope it'll be good practice.

I've stripped it and sanded it and now I stained it (according to
manufacturer's instructions).

And the result can be seen he

http://i.math.drexel.edu/~pg/board.jpg

You might be able to tell that it is very uneven and somewhat blotchy.

What am I doing wrong and can it be fixed at this point?

Very many thanks in advance!

Aaron Fude