how do I stain bookshelves (and undo the mess I've made) ?

October 1, 2007 7:18 AM

What's the best way to stain unfinished pine?

I'm attempting to stain unfinished pine, and not having much luck. So far what I've done was sand with a fine grit (how do I tell when it's just right), apply a pre-stain conditioner, and then a liquid stain. For finishing I plan to apply a sealer recommended at the store.

The liquid stain looks pretty bad - runs, and blotches and is taken in unevenly, despite the pre-conditioner. I'm not sure what, if anything, can be done to salvage them - perhaps re-sanding particularly bad bits and re-staining?

Where might I find good resources for understanding the staining process -- for someone who's wood knowledge is essentially zero? I've read this question on staining, and it sounds as if a gel-based stain or spray-stain might have been a better idea in the first place.

Any suggestions or ideas appreciated! I guess it's a good thing it was all cheap furniture.

posted by canine epigram to sports, hobbies, & recreation (9 comments total)

Starting with a conditioner is a good idea, but pine is a pretty heinous wood to stain. It was probably the liquid stain that failed you. Gel stains are preferred.

Woodsmith has a back issue with guidance on staining pine in particular. I remember reading this article and it was pretty thorough.

On a similar front, here's an article on staining end grain, which is a similar task.

Personally, I dropped all notion of staining pine. Instead, I grew to love the way that pine looks when it has a yellow polyurethane coat on it or Watco Danish oil. The natural or golden oak has worked well on projects with other woods that don't like stain (maple, poplar, etc).
posted by plinth at 7:40 AM on October 1, 2007

Four our unfinished pine, I generally apply several coats of boiled linseed oil, giving the wood as much as it can absorb in a minute or so, then wiping off the rest. Looks great, I think.
posted by MrMoonPie at 8:38 AM on October 1, 2007

What Plinth said. I usually use a conditioner followed by a very diluted honey pine liquid stain, so diluted that it darkens the wood only slightly. I sometimes follow that with either Watcos or Minwax Antique Oil (very similar) wiping varnish.

Lately though I have been using amber shellac for the final coats. It is a classic finish that goes on easily dries in an instant and with multiple coats (lightly sand in between) imparts a deep honey color. It is easy to repair as well. The only disadvantage is that it does not like water, so don't use it on a table top.
posted by LarryC at 9:00 AM on October 1, 2007

I used this Minwax Woodsheen for a similar project (i.e. pine book shelves to fit in an antique book case). I used two coats with 24 hours in between and applied it with some terrycloth-covered foam applicators. It streaks really bad, so I applied all in one direction (including the sides). This, when it was all said and done, gives it the look of wood grain. I was pretty happy with the finished product.
posted by wheat at 9:22 AM on October 1, 2007

Great suggestions - any thoughts on whether I can salvage the spotty ones I've already stained?
posted by canine epigram at 10:39 AM on October 1, 2007

The problem is that pine tends to be like a sponge with variable density. Some areas soak up a lot of stain, some don't. I don't know that you can fix them other than priming and painting. If I were going to try, I would try wiping the darker, splotchier areas with a solvent. If you can match the solvent that is in the stain, you'll have a better chance of lifting it out.

If you paint over them, don't forget to treat the knots.
posted by plinth at 1:17 PM on October 1, 2007

From the description of your problem you may have some pine furniture that has already gotten some treatment. I once - foolishly - succeeded in attacking a piece with some medium grit sandpaper long enough take out the outer oiled layer so I could stain it.

It took the stain pretty well and was completely and unequivocally not worth the effort.

Another possibility is that you're putting that stain on WAYYYYY too heavy. No matter how well your surface is prepared, if you slather on the stain you'll get runs and drips. You should be applying a slim amount with a damp sponge brush or the like. If you treat it like paint that you can drag around to an even layer you're going to be unhappy and the result will be ugly. The goal is to lay down only slightly more than the surface can absorb.
posted by phearlez at 2:06 PM on October 1, 2007

At this point your best chance of fixing it is either paint it or add additional coats of stain to even it out by making it darker. Some kind of stain + finish that lies on top of the wood instead of penetrating. Use thin coats.

Pine is such a joy to work with until you get to the finishing stage!
posted by LarryC at 3:00 PM on October 1, 2007

A number of years ago, I finished several pine shelves (the cheap unfinished pine type favored by students in pre-Ikea days) with Livos Kaldet Walnut (Nussbaum) oil stain, with very good results. The results were much better than with Watco (which turned out totally splotchy), which surprised me, since the Kaldet was supposed to be more or less equivalent to products like Watco danish oil, only somewhat less toxic. Being somewhat obsessive, I actually tested several different products on some scrap wood, and this definitely gave me the best results. I still have some of those shelves, and they still look pretty decent.

Unfortunately, Livos seems to have had pretty spotty (sometimes nonexistent) US distribution for a number of years now (the link above is to their main German site). I did find what appears to be their current US distributor, but they only seem to carry the clear Kaldet (though their web site is kind of broken, so it's a bit hard to tell). So if you're in the US, you may have a hard time getting a hold of it...
posted by klausness at 6:31 PM on October 1, 2007