On Sat, 4 Jul 2015 20:04:08 -0400, "Mike Marlow"
wrote:

Gordon Shumway wrote:
On Sat, 4 Jul 2015 20:52:20 +0000 (UTC), John McCoy
wrote:

Gordon Shumway wrote in
:

When I get the replacement door for the replacement door is there
something short of wearing gloves that I can do to ensure there will
be no ugly surprises when I apply the stain?

Do you think the prints are glue or something from the door's
manufacture? Wiping down with mineral spirits often reveals
such things (as well as sanding scratches) before staining.

John

The finger prints were not prints per se, but as if you were to put
your hand flat on a surface and press down with your finger tip while
sliding your hand across that surface. They closely resembled how and
where I remember my hand moving while trying to flip the door over.

I will begin adding the process of wiping down projects with solvent
prior to staining after this.

You can if you want but it will probably not help you all that much. You
don't have that much oil in your finger tips to create that problem, unless
you're Italian. I'd think it was already in the door. Even if your finger
oils were the culprit, they would blend with the stain. I don't take
anywhere near the precautions that people suggest here, and I deal with a
lot more sensitive materials than wood stain. I've done plenty of wood
staining, and unless I was staining a piece of wood as I was doing a ball
joint lube, I've just never seen this. You can put WAY too much emphasis on
this crap of wiping down with solvents and all that - it's just not the
issue. You either had imperfections in the wood from the mill, or you
somehow screwed up the wood surface. Maybe too much finger pressure while
trying to do a light sanding? That's usually the first place to look - not
oils and solvents.

I know I didn't use too much finger pressure while sanding because I
either used a sanding block or my ROS. Besides the "prints" were
across the grain not with the grain so that was definitely not the
issue. I know I wasn't doing any shade tree mechanic work at the time
so that wasn't the culprit either. I've never had this problem before
either and I have stained many projects in the past.

It is possible, maybe even probable, that this occurred during
shipment from the manufacturer to my lumber yard or from there to my
house.