Wood stain question

[stellarose]

I have a question about wood stain. This is the poly shades black wood stain. If you can see if the attached pictures the far side/left side of the table stain is glossier than the near side/right side.

Do you think it needs another coat to even it out? We used two brushes, both natural bristles, but apparently that made a difference this time. (We've used this same stain and technique and brushes without this issue). Or do you think if we start with the polyurethane coats that it will even out the gloss?

I'm super happy with the coverage of the stain so I hate to add more coats of black, but I want a super high shine/gloss finish. I want to epoxy it as well. I assumed I would do my normal 3-4 coats of polyurethane and then do the epoxy coat.

Thoughts??

[kaylie]

I think the poly will even it out, so I wouldn't add a second coat of stain. Since you love the way it is now it would suck to mess that up.

[lavender444]

What kind of prep did you do to the wood? My guess is there is something on the wood in that spot that cause the stain to absorb differently. I would also try to poly over it and see if the poly seals it. If it doesn't you might have to sand that spot, reprep it all with a degreaser and start again. The poly will probably take care of it, though.

[TBM]

How many coats did you put on it? If that is just one coat, I would do a second coat to even things out without worrying about it getting darker.

I kind of think that some steel wool and another coat could even things out add some depth, and wouldn't hurt it. IMO, the stain part needs to be even and nice, because the clear finish isn't going to change that.

[stellarose]

Thanks ladies. We are building this table from scratch. So the wood was planed, then sanded multiple times.

I think maybe I'll try one more light coat with the same brush after a little steel wool and then go from there.

[stellarose]

Sad face. I think I'm going to have to strip and start completely over. I also tried the stain sponges to apply not a good idea. Stick with the brush.

[lmdbww]

We had these same uneven spots when we used Polyshades on our stairs project. We also had to strip and start over. lol

(we didn't sand between coats though?)

Regular stain fixed our issues, and then 2 coats of poly.

[stellarose]

Jan 27, 2015 14:18:49 GMT -5 lmdbww said:

We had these same uneven spots when we used Polyshades on our stairs project. We also had to strip and start over. lol

(we didn't sand between coats though?)

Regular stain fixed our issues, and then 2 coats of poly.

Glad to hear I was not alone on my failed attempt. But not glad you had to redo yours as well.

We sanded down to bare wood again as well. I would've done regular stain, but since I wanted black i had to use polyshades again. This time I conditioned the wood first and that helped a lot. I'm happy with it now.

I just have to stain the legs and then will add an expoy resin top coat when I get back from my work trip.

Attachments:

[TBM]

It turned out really nice!

If you stain something in the future, you might look into General Finishes stains. A lot of woodworking and unfinished furniture stores carry it, and in my experience, it is far superior to Minwax products.

[cjeanette]

We bought this stain today to do a bathroom vanity and your pictures are making me excited. I love the way the color looks!

[sierramist03]

Wow the conditioning made a huge difference now I understand why dh always does it

[stellarose]

Jan 31, 2015 20:26:43 GMT -5 nursecramer said:

Jan 31, 2015 19:52:45 GMT -5 stellarose said:

Glad to hear I was not alone on my failed attempt. But not glad you had to redo yours as well.

We sanded down to bare wood again as well. I would've done regular stain, but since I wanted black i had to use polyshades again. This time I conditioned the wood first and that helped a lot. I'm happy with it now.

I just have to stain the legs and then will add an expoy resin top coat when I get back from my work trip.

You have way more patience than I do! I had an uneven staining job last weekend on a high chair and got some good advice for conditioning from the ladies here, but I really needed it to just BE DONE (and we're only going to be using this for a year or so, not long-term) so I just gave in and painted it. Glad the conditioning worked for you!

Thanks everyone, I'm so happy with it.

nursecramer, I completely understand. This has turned into one of those miserable projects that is jinxed. But hopefully I can get though it and still be proud. I was giving it one last try before painting.