"Matthew" wrote in
:

I am having big problems with staining table purchased from a
unfinished furniture store. My mother in law bought the dining table
(30 in square top and skirt, four very nicely turned legs) for about
$150. The wood looks very much like cherry in grain, but is a light
pink color, and about the same weight and hardness as cherry.


At that price, possibly alder. Not necessarily a problem, but a
different challenge.

I suspected troubles with staining, based on the texture of the sanded
surfaces, so I applied a wet coat of Minwax pre-stain wood
conditioner. In some areas, the conditioner absorbed VERY quickly, so
I brushed on more in these areas. (First warning, right?) After 15
min, I wiped the whole peice dry with a shop towel.

Bob Flexner (Understanding Wood Finishing - get it, best $20 you can
spend) says that it's no wonder that people have problems with this
product. Using it according to the directions on the can is "exactly
the wrong way to go about it".

After another 30 min or so, I applied Minwax Wood Finish, Provincial
211 (which is more of a stain than a finish) which is quite thin and
very dark. I brushed on the stain, let it set for 5 minutes, and wiped
it off. In most areas (80% of the peice) I got just the color I was
looking for. However, there are very dark areas all over, and on
inspection, these are the areas where the grain is not parallel to the
surface of the wood (big surprise) and the dark stain went well into
the wood surface. I mean, this was REALLY bad -- worse case I have
run into so far.

End grain behaves very differently, doesn't it. This is another reason
Minwax Wood Finish is not my first, second or third choice these days
when changing the color of a piece.


OK, so what went wrong? Several things come to mind.
1) The stain could have been too thin; maybe a thicker stain would
not have been as likely to absorb so quickly.
2) If the wood conditioner helped, it didn't help much. I have used
a lot of Minwax Wood Finish as stain, and have had mostly good
experience with the wood conditioner, and have had **some** issues in
the past, but nothing like this!

So here come the questions:
1) Any advice on how to consistantly get even stain are appreciated.
I DAGS on the several versions of the topic, but someone else's
personal experience is always invaluable.
2) Any way to lighten the dark areas? I tried a rag and mineral
spirits to no avail. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
3) If I start over (a real damn possibility here) what brands and/or
types of stain, or staining technique, have given better results?

Thanks in advance. This group is a great resource, even for lurkers
like me


Matthew



I don't know if salvage is a possibility. But a good acrylic latex
paint might be. ;-)

Is there a surface on the underside with this malady? Somewhere you can
test the fixes without risking further damage?

Do you have a well-tuned smoothing plane? ;-) Or a belt sander?
Because you'll want to get rid of the old, before trying a gel stain, a
toned wiping varnish, shellac, a glaze or something else.

The most difficult part of this all my be that the client is near and
dear to your wife. Failure is likely a painful option.

Patriarch