This week’s question comes from Robert. He writes:
When staining soft maple Kitchen doors and drawers from a millworks shop the painter applied a special walnut stain directly to the raw wood. The stain did not take well on wood milled with the grain, and on cross cuts the stain soaked into the wood giving a dark black color. How do we prevent the cross cut problem and promote a uniform acceptance of the stain.
And here was my reply:
“Hey Robert. Uneven staining can be a real pain. There are a few things you can do to even things out in the future. First, you should sand the end-grain to one or two grits higher than the rest of the piece. So if the piece is sanded to 180, you should sand the endgrain to 220 or 320. The finer sanding will help prohibit stain absorption. Another technique is to apply a glue size to the endgrain. Make a 10:1 mixture of water and yellow or white glue. Brush this solution onto the endgrain and give it several hours to dry. Once dry, sand lightly and proceed with staining. The embedded glue will prevent excessive stain absorption. You can also use a light coat of shellac or any sealer to the same end. And remember to always test on scrap or inconspicuous areas to ensure you get the look you are after. Hope these ideas help.”
42 Responses to “Uneven Stain Absorption”
For another option, I’ve found a light coat of Watco’s natural Danish Oil will help with this blotching problem common with open grain woods. I believe your answer to the endgrain may be the only way to fix that, however.
Marc, your answer concentrated on end-grain. I have had similar uneven absorption problems when staining face-grain of maple. I would be interested in your comments on face-grain problems.
Thanks
Good point. Uneven absorption in face grain can be prevented by using a light sealer coat of de-waxed shellac (1/2-1 lb cut). There are also commercial conditioners that do a decent job although I never really use them. Now if you plan on adding color (which is usually where the absorption issues show up), you should try spraying dye if you can. Thats the ultimate solution. If you cant spray, then try using a gel stain. Gel stains don’t absorb quite as much as a regular stain and will help prevent major blotchiness.
For the average person, a shellac sealer and gel stain are a g solid method. Just experiment on scrap to get the right balance of shellac. Too much will not let the stain absorb at all.
Posted for Wally.
I have also found that applying boiled linseed oil to the end grain of almost any kind of wood retards the absorption of an oil-based stain. You just have to apply the stain while the oil is still wet otherwise the dried linseed oil may prevent you from getting the desired hue to match the rest of the stained piece.
If you’re a bit skittish about how much stain will be absorbed, try wiping the stain off after a minute and check the result. If it’s too light just apply another coat of stain and keep repeating this process until you match the tone of the rest of the wood.
I also experimented with a latex-based stain and boiled linseed oil on the end grain and was pleased with the results. This experiment was done with pine so I have no idea how it will work with other species of wood.
Mark,
I was just reading Bob Flexner’s book on finishing, and he discussed the issue of endgrain staining darker in one section.
But he said you don’t really have to sand any HIGHER grits than what you sanded the long grain, you just have to sand it BETTER. He said the whole process of end grain getting darker than long grain is because it isn’t sanded as smoothly, so it takes the stain more readily.
He demonstrated with pictures, showing that sanding the endgrain to the same grit, but sanding it longer to smooth it better, produced a finished piece that did not stain any darker than the long grain.
I haven’t yet had a chance to give it a try, but I wondered if you’d read that and what your thoughts were on his process.
Anything that saves me from having to jump up one or two more grits is worth trying, in my book.
Ethan
IT would be very helpful if some of the wood webs had some info on refinishing guitars. I don’t mean the coating of paint and lacqer, but having to sand down a spruce or mahogony finish due to 60 years of pick abuse and heavy lacquer cracking. I just finished sanding down a Kay Kraft from the 1930′s, but the trick is to try to match up the subtle deep flaming from the original..having the center area lighter and the edges going pretty dark. Usually a dark mahogony. Uneven staining is alive and well in this situation, but deep dark staining is also needed, which may not work if the wood is pretreated for uneven staining. Right now I’m looking at some raised grain after staining, and some uneveness..wondering if I can combine some steel wool work to remove just some uneveness and more stain around the edge…also, that deep glow from lacquer coating….most guys aren’t set up at home for spraying, but tung oil layers aftere a single linseed coating have a great look, but don’t expect the magic till after the 6th or 7th coating….
Oh, and it was great fun spilling a whole can of deep mahogony onto the kitchen floor right at the end…totally exhausted, then two more hours of cleaning, ruining mops, then half naked scrubbing and sanding walls and floor before the girls got home. No skin left to play the damn thing with.
Ran out of doors to sample my water base stain on maple cabinets.
I like the way you describe things in depth and detail….very smart and very thorough..
I am trying to stain my own maple kitchen cabinets thinking my experience as a textile designer for 20 years and using dyes and water colors with air brushes would serve me well……..HARDLY!!
I am dead set on succeding with using these water base stains from EcoProcote called TimberSoy because they have no VOC at all. But i find that I can not achieve the irridescence with a custom walnut/oak color that is 50% lighter than the actual walnut color. I would say the weight of the color is like a spice but more walnuty. i want to keep it lighter so as to get the irridesesnce of the maple.
Is there some certified natural oil and natural based stains….really natural, that will allow me this end result that i can do while i move into the house? My family and 2 kids (one 17 year old son) have to move out of my 800 sq ft house and everyone is waiting on me to stain the cabinets… The insurance in spector is coming in 4 days and we are suppose to be there as our primary residence.
THe problem is that i have to wait 7 days for the finish to cure in order to know if i am applying the stain and techniques correctly. I am trying varyations of either dampening the wood with water to raise the grain, -presealing with base, -presealing with finish 3;1, adding stain to a finish, -poping the grain which seems to make the pores darker, sanding 3000 steal wooll, etc etc, etc,,,,
It is the 5 th day and i can scratch the finish and it is worrying me. The manufacturer says to keep waiting. I am not that pleased with that particular sample i am waiting on beacuse it was sprayed on and looks kind of flat and blah. One door has lots of dark pores on frame and maple ply panel, the the other test that was sprayed looks like the stain sits on the surface and i see no grain or dark pores. One section on the sample, i dampned with water and pulled some stain off and i can see some glow, but the color of the stain got weak.
Does anyone have experience with similar products?
HVLP leaves the cleanest look, but too faint a grain, and if i push the stain in after spraying, i think i am opening up the pores more???
I have not done a spray test on hghly sanded doors with 3000 steel wool without any pretreatment so my grain does not get clogged with sealer.
i hope that works,
I ran out of door backs and now i am unscrewing the drawer fronts…
help…I will send a donation for certain to your website beacuse it is a great set up.
Hello Silvana. You are pretty deep into the process so its going to be tricky for me to give advice at this stage of the game, over the internet……
But from the sounds of it, you might be over-complicating the process just a smidge. Check out the following post and video to get a little more insight into how I handle maple. It might give you a few pointers.
http://thewoodwhisperer.com/st.....-the-week/
http://thewoodwhisperer.com/73.....chy-woods/
Finishing can be as complicated or as simple as we want it to be. I tend to lean on the simple side. Email me after you check out those links and we’ll talk about a strategy for your cabinets.
Dear Marc,
Who me? over complicate? You are on the nose about that. But only because i was thinking that shellac with alchohol was not an eco friendly product to use. So i was stubborn by trying to use the eco products i had originally purchased also as a pretreatment to the staining. But being they are like a gel base, there is no where for the stain to go once i use the base as a pretreatment so i am having a waxy residue that has no where to go so i end up having to buff and buff and buff, and the maple looks washed out.
All these fancy products out there and shellac is the simplest solution.?
Good ole shellac that my Father has been using to set his diamond rings and jewlery since i can remember? And i even use to help him melt it and shape it around the wooden dowels that hold the jewlery pieces!
Once i use the thinned out shellac and the pores get sealed, is my water base stain (which is like the consistancy of melted icecream) is it going to have any where to go?
When i pretreat the maple with other methods, it seems the beard stubble look still remains after i stain with sealer. When i make the sealer ratio to water more concentrated, then the beard stubble dissapears but so does the swirls and irridescnece of the maple and the grain waves.
When i use the shellac method, i am assuming the pretreatment has a diferent affect on the wood than a water based pretreatment which might swell up the wood and open the pores more which will allow more stain to get into the pores also which is good for coloring the maple surface but not to get into those little pores that look like beard stubble…
Am i correct?.
Will the shellac/alcohol method allow the stain to stay out of those pores and only stain the surface and the swirls and waves in the wood?
When i use the base of my water base stain by itself, as a pretreatment, i find that the next stain coat has no where to go because the maple allready took in all it could with the base pretreatment . Is that correct?
SO then, …alcohol and shellac are compatible with water base stains and finishes on top?
After the use of the shellac/alcohol pretreatment, will i still see dark beard stubble on many places?
Your video demo did not show the effect in a close up. DId the lightened walnut settle into the pores and have a black beard stubble showing more on the 2 lb or 1 pound shellac sample?
Which of the 2 showed more illuninsesnce and maple swirls and grain? the 2 lb or 1 lb sample?
Well I certainly can’t argue with wanting to be eco-friendly. Unfortunately, eco-friendly doesn’t always go hand in hand with user-friendly. And you wind up either wasting a lot of material, or possibly even re-doing a project to get the right result.
Regardless of the type of sealer you use (shellac, sanding sealer, etc…), there are degrees of sealing. Its not necessarily an all or none type of thing. So a light coat may sill allow stain penetration. And yes, a light coat of shellac with still allow a water-based stain to penetrate and stain the wood, although the color will be lighter than it would be on raw wood. If your stain isn’t taking, its probably because your sealer coat was too heavy and the wood is completely sealed. So the stain sits on the surface with no where to go.
You mention the beard stubble. This raised grain occurs whenever you get water on the surface. Whenever using water-based products, its a good idea to pre-raise the grain with water. In general, the grain only raises severely on the first exposure to water. So after that first exposure, its a good idea to lightly sand the surface to knock down the fuzzies. After the surface is smooth again, you can proceed with the stain. And you do not want to stain the fuzzy surface. This may give the illusion of accepting more stain, but in reality, your stain is just getting lodged down in between the raised grain, which leads to poor adhesion. Now if you are using shellac or waterbased sealer, you can use that as your first grain-raising coat (shellac will raise the grain slightly). Again, just be sure to sand lightly to remove the raised grain, then proceed with the staining.
And in the demo, the 1lb cut showed a little bit more absorption than the 2lb cut, which is to be expected.
As far as the quality of the surface, you would have a hard time telling the difference between the 2 and l lb cut. Neither obscures the grain in any way. The type of stain you use on top of that pre-sealed surface is probably what will determine how much grain shows through as well as the overall luminescence of the surface. Hope that helps.
I thought I heard “Danielle” on HGTV Color Splash say that you can use a gel stain on kitchen cabinets to change the wood finish without having to remove the finish – just use it to depen and update the color and richness of the shine. My cabinets are treated such that they will not take a regular stain without completely removing the finish. Will a gel stain work on them, then? My goal would be to deepen the color and shine for an upgraded look to nice quality medium brown wood grain cabinets from the late 70′s.
I suppose it depends on the formulation of the gel stain. Some of these stains actually contain a bit of varnish and could potentially be applied over a pre-existing finish. But I would still be concerned about the quality of the bond. I would imagine a good swipe with your fingernail and the finish will come off. If you are going to try this method, I would test it in an inconspicuous area first, and make sure you lightly sand the area with 220 or 320 grit paper prior to staining. That will give you the best shot of getting good adhesion.
Now if you do get the color to stay, you still need to topcoat. The stain itself is not going to be suitable as a topcoat, especially for something like kitchen cabinets. So I would recommend a good coat of poly after the stain. That will give you the shine you are looking for.
Ultimately though, I would probably never do something like this for a customer. I wouldn’t want that dreaded phone call two years later if/when the finish starts to peel.
I stained an unfinished pine bench with a walnut stain and it is a mess. The spindles are not taking the stain and there are heavy brush marks which didnt show up until it dried. Help! What can I do now?
Hi Audrey. Pine is notorious for being difficult to stain. I would just strip or sand the old stain off and try again using the methods and materials mentioned above. Try to get all the color off the wood. Then start over using the precautions mentioned above. I usually recommend a sealer coat of dewaxed shellac, followed by a few coats of a gel stain.
Great thread here. I have the same problem as Audrey, but a bit more complicated. I am adding a headboard to an existing bed that I finished years ago with oil based stain and poly. The headboard is made of whitewood and I wanted the stain (Watco Oil based Walnut) to look more even then on the rest of the bed. So I tried some Zinsser Seal Coat on a sample board, stained it with the Walnut, and although it looked a little lighter than the original without the sealer, it was much more even.
I started on the back of the headboard with 2 parts Seal Coat and 3 parts DNA per instructions on the can. Waited 15 minutes, rubbed the finish with a white 3M pad, and applied the oil stain. Waited 30 minutes, applied another coat of stain, wiped it all off 15 minutes later. Looked good. Some of the boards (the panel is a glue up) looked very even, some not as much, but all together much better than the bed without the sealer.
On to the front of the headboard. Same procedure as back, but I mixed up a little more seal coat since I ran a little short on the back. I must have used too much of the seal coat because right before I went to apply the stain on the front, I noticed some blotches (looked like water stain rings) in the seal coat! I tried rubbing them out with the white pad, no help. So I put some DNA on a rag, wet the surface again, then immediately rubbed out the blotches. Problem solved. Went right to the stain and everything seemed to be going well. However, once I wiped the oil stain off, the front didn’t soak in as much of the color as the back.
I let this dry for 2 days and then tried spraying on thinned oil stain for 3 very light coats to see if I could enhance the color. The stain never dried and so yesterday I wiped it all off with mineral spirits.
After some new research I have found a couple of possible solutions: 1) sand down to 120, then 150, and start over – this will be difficult since sanding some of the details could scratch grain running 90 degrees (this was all sanded before the glue up). 2) apply another coat of stain and wet sand with 320 and possibly a repeat the next day with 400.
My questions: if I sand down everything and start over, how far do I have to go? Should I use the seal coat again? If I just try wet sanding with the oil stain for a few more coats, how much color will the wood be able to absorb? The difference in color is still very apparent!
Thanks for any help you can provide!
Hey Rob. Although you mentioned the headboard was stained, you didn’t say whether it had a protective top coat or not. I assume it had at least some finish on it. You also didn’t mention if you sanded this prior to adding the seal coat. If not, all bets are off. The concept of pre-sealing prior to staining is something that is really intended for raw wood or wood that has had all the finish sanded off. Generally speaking, oil-based stains will not cure if they can’t absorb into the wood. This is why your stain is not drying on the front. So if you are really looking for a good long-term fix, my recommendation would indeed be to sand it down to bare wood and start with the seal coat of shellac. Then proceed with the staining. And consider picking up some gel stain instead of regular oil-based stain. I find the color transfer is better and less prone to blotching.
Now speaking of gel stain, there is one other thing you can try that will be a little less work. If you sand the surface down just to smooth everything out and give the surface a little texture, you can wipe on a gel stain. The gel stain formula (Gerneral Finishes), actually has a little varnish in it and a thin layer will dry on a finished surface. Now you won’t get a lot of color absorption but you can actually tone the finish in such a way that it could help to even out the appearance. Once that color dries, be sure to put a clear topcoat over it for extra protection. Now a little disclaimer here, that’s a quick fix and not the ideal scenario. There could always be adhesion issues between the stain and the existing finish. But I have seen it done before so I figured I’d mention it. Good luck!
Thanks so much for the quick reply. The headboard was raw wood when I started. I sanded it through to 220. I know now to use a gel stain on pine, but I hesitate to do this on this project since Watco doesn’t make a gel stain to match the oil stain I used on the rest of the project. I don’t want the colors to be off. That is why I am trying to make the oil stain look as even as I can.
Right now the headboard has 1 layer of thinned Seal Coat, and as much stain as the wood will absorb. If I sand down and start over, what difference will I make unless I change the procedure? The only thing I can think of is to let the Seal Coat dry completely and sand it down before applying the stain. Will this help the wood to absorb more stain?
Thanks again for all of your help!
Well you are right, if you sand it back down and start over the only thing you can do is use a thinner sealer coat. Problem is, the thinner you go, the more likely you are to see blotching. This is the sort of give and take game you have to play when trying to stain blotchy woods. And if you sand the seal coat down a bit it can certainly allow more stain in. By sanding you are essentially removing some of the sealer. So its not all that different from applying a thinner coat of sealer in the first place. But again, sand too much away and you are inviting blotch.
Sorry this stuff is so complicated. Its the nature of the beast.
I’m staining a flight of stairs (using an oil based stain) that will eventually have a runner down the middle, leaving only 6 inches of exposed wood on either side. So far, I have two coats of stain applied, but am getting some blotchiness.
I only have about a week until the carpet is coming, and don’t think I’d have time to sand back down to bare wood, apply a sealer, and reapply the stain in time. Do you have any suggestion for how to minimize/conceal that blotchiness at this point?
I might just try switching to a gel stain. The coverage should be a little more even and you can push the color around a bit to the lighter spots. Can’t guarantee it will give you the results you want, but if you are in a pinch, it should help. Another option would be a toner if you have access to HVLP.
Thanks for the quick reply, I’ll give the gel a try.
Marc -
I built an island for my dauthter’s kitchen using red oak and have nearly matched the color of her existing cabinets using an oil based stain. However, when I tested the stain mixture on various pieces of scrap wood, it appears that the plywood used for the ends of the cabinets is not absorbing the stain nearly as well as the other pieces. Do you have any thoughts on how I can get the plywood to take the stain better?
Thanks.
Hey Andy. You might try using a pre-stain conditioner to help even things out. Something like Charles Neil’s product would work quite well:
https://charlesneilwoodworking.3dcartstores.com/?AffId=2
You also might try using a gel stain instead of a regular oil-based stain. The color should be more consistent since it tends to lay on the surface.
Thanks for the quick reply. By the suggestion to use a pre-stain conditioner, I suppose you meant on the whole cabinet. This might make the rest of the cabinet take the stain the same as the plywood sides, but then I would have to find a different formula to match the existing cabinets in the kitchen. To be honest with you, for some reason the plywood doesn’t seem to take the stain very well at all, and I am not sure that I can get them as dark as the existing kitchen cabinets with the stain I am using. I was hoping for some way to get the plywood to absorb the stain better rather than limiting how the rest of the wood absorbs it. Any ideas on how to do that?
I had thought of trying gel stain, but from what I have read it sounds like it might be a little tricky to get an even coat in the corners of the panels in the doors and the back of the case. How hard is that?
This is an unfortunate side-effect of using plywood. Typically stains differently than solid wood. So the only options are to use a pre-conditioner, or use a stain that is more likely to get the color change you’re looking for. A gel stain will like give you your best shot. As for application, I wouldn’t really say its hard. Simply wipe it on generously, then wipe off the excess.
One thing you may consider is doing layers of color. This takes a little practice and you’ll want to test on scrap. But before applying the final gel stain, consider applying a dye (one that is close to the color you want). This dye works like a pre-stain to help bring the solid wood and plywood closer to the same color family. Then once you hit it with your gel stain, your results should be even better. Experimentation on scrap is the key here.
I am trying to renovate some sapele wood kitchen doors. Two of the doors were ok and looked good with some clear varnish applied. The other two were faded so I applied some teak coloured varnish to try to match the other two. Unfortunately, could see overlapping brush strokes and looked a mess. So sanded off all the varnish and applied a coat of clear. Now have a complete mess and the clear varnish has highlighted dark and light patches. Please help!
HI Alison. Sounds like you’re in need of a “do-over”. I would probably just sand/strip the doors down completely to bare wood, then sand them thoroughly. You not only want to remove all traces of old finish, but also expose fresh wood. The fading is only surface deep so a thorough sanding should bring the doors back to their natural state. From that point, you can simply add your clear protective finish. And with sapele doors, you should probably avoid adding any color if possible since the natural wood is so beautiful.
I am having new maple cabinets installed in my kitchen. The painter sprayed a pre-stain conditioner on them and then sprayed them with Provencial stain, both by min-wax. My cabinets came out horrible. They are splotched and uneven. What can I do? I originally wanted to have them stained and then do a coffee colored glaze over them. Are they ruined? What to do? The painter is at a loss. Help, quick.
Hi Carolyn. Standard pre-conditioners can certainly work if used properly, so I can’t necessarily say your painter is at fault. Seems like he did the best he could and the fact that he used a pre-conditioner at all is a very good sign. But one some wood and with some stains, the pre-conditioner doesn’t fix everything. Unfortunately that’s the nature of the beast.
Now how to fix what you have is a little tricky without being there to see it and knowing exactly what was done. Its dangerous to make a solid recommendation without all the info. But there is always a chance that the glaze could help even out the color. You could also try to use a gel stain on the surface to help even out the color. But keep in mind you can only go darker from here. So if they are already too dark, you will have to go through more work to get them to look right. Specifically, you’ll probably want to strip and sand the cabinets back to bare wood. Then of course, you’ll need to start over using other known blotch control methods. I usually recommend Charles Neil’s blotch control followed by a water-based stain. A great combo! But I can’t stress enough how important it is that you confirm your finishing regimen on scrap before using it on the cabinets. Otherwise, you’re kind of flying blind. Good luck Carolyn.
I am presently staining a hand scribed log cabin I buit and I avoided staining the log ends until the end as they soak up so much stain. I am using a water based Sansin product. Then it hit me , I tried it and it works like a charm. I simply took a pump spray bottle that has the ability to atomize to a very fine spray. I put water in it and gave the end grain the very finest one pass wisp of a spray. The stain then covers so far . . . astonishingly so ! It takes so little to do it now. As the h2o amount is so small and fine and I brush stain it immediatly after spraying that it doesnt affect the stain as the water just slows down the “drinking straw ” effect and moves into the end grain in front of the stain. No adverse effects seen so far. I dont think there will be as the h2o amount is so minescule.
We built a timberframe house out of hand planed white pine. The frame was exposed to the elements for approximately 6 month before we got it enclosed and had some water stains. We did a light sanding on all of the beams with heavier sanding to remove the water stains. When we stained the beams they came out uniform in color which was great. But we then installed a hand planed stair case that had been freshly made. Although we used the same stain and finishing process the stair case was much lighter in color. Can you tell me why?
Well there are a number of variables at play. Different stock of boards, different exposure conditions, different processing of materials……all this could certainly contribute to differential staining. For the most consistent results in a project, we try to use boards from the same source and hopefully from the same tree. That gives us our best chance of getting the color to be even. Obviously in your situation that wasn’t possible, but this is just what we deal with when we use a natural product like wood.
I am attemping to redo an old coffee table. First i standed it with sand paper 60, then 220 to polish it off, I then wipe it with a damp cloth. Next used wood filler where i sanded too much, there seem to be a different layer (darker) wood where i penetrated (sanded too much). However, i used a wood filler to cover it up, hoping when i stain over it will look good? Then i applied an oil base stain which looks blotchy even where i didn’t used wood filler, I should say the hold top of the table looks blotchy. I need a quick an easy fix, what should i do?
Umm, buy a nice table cloth? Seriously though, it sounds like you have done some significant damage to your veneered table top. And to be honest, the only real “repair” here would be re-veneering the top. There are things we can do to prevent blotch, but they don’t necessarily work after the piece is stained. Normally I would recommend sanding and starting over. But sanding is only going to create more problems for you at this point.
Now you could always cover up the top using tinted lacquer (toner), which lets some of the wood grain show through but covers most of it up. Careful application of toner could possibly hide bad spots. But the top is going to have to end up pretty dark for this to work.
I wish I had better advice for you. But once you burn through veneer layers, its very difficult to recover.
Thanks for the quick reply. I have to go table shopping
We have red oak steps (about 40 years old) which we just removed the carpeting. They had finished part of the steps that were exposed for trim purposes with the handrail. However, not the entire width of the step had been finished 40 years ago — the part that was under the carpet. We want to finish the entire step, but there is a very distinct difference between the part of the step that was finished and the part of the step that was never finished. We’ve tried sanding with 50 grit sandpaper, we’ve tried a wood bleaching product to even this out — no success. Any thoughts on how we can make the entire width of the step look the same?? Thanks
Bleaching and sanding would have been my suggestions. Since that didn’t completely work, you might try staining. A light stain could help bring the two tones into the same family, or at least make it more difficult to detect.
Hi,
I’ve built a bar out of furniture grade oak ply. The stain looks good, but in many places when you look at it on an angle (with the grain), it appears uneven – dark areas and light. Is there anything I can do before I apply the poly?
Two things come to mind Jonathan. First, you can use a toner. Typically this is a dilute lacquer solution with color that can be applied heavy in the light areas and light in the dark areas. It also suspends the color in a film on the surface so while it can even out the color, it can also obscure the grain. But used lightly, it can be quite effective. The second option is to maybe try a gel stain on the surface. Gel stains don’t require as much absorption to work and you can leave it a little heavy in the light areas.
Both methods are perfectly viable but it just depends on what you’re more comfortable doing.
I have some maple kitchen doors, solid frame and plywood panel. Rift cut plywood was beautiful until I applied a minwax maple stain and it absorbed at different rates- one strip splotchy and dark with the bookmatched piece being lighter. Unfortunatly I sprayed it with Hood resisithane and it looks like junk. Any fix? Spraying toners?
Aside from stripping and starting over, yeah, I think toners are going to be the way to go. Try to bring the light parts up to the color of the dark parts. But you will wind up masking the grain a bit by the time things are even.
Help please! I’m frustrated with the chairs I’m finishing ( i unfortunately dont know what kind of wood they are – perhaps maple?) For the most part they are taking the minwax stain well, but in certain spots, mostly on the spindles, certain spots will not take stain. I had sanded these with 240 but then read this post and resanded those spots with 100 to open up the grain- to no avail. Will sanding down those spots and applying wood conditioner help? If not, what will? Thanks!