TableWatch 2014: Prognosis not looking good

[dr.girlfriend]

Urgh.  So, I sanded off the wrong wood conditioner and applied the correct one.  I don't know if that was the problem or if it was just never going to work, but the table basically came out tiger-striped in orange and grey.  In particular, there are some square-shaped areas of orange that might correspond to where I applied the conditioner with the foam brush that just won't take stain.  I kept trying to apply more stain and wipe it off more lightly, but at this point I'm wondering if I should just paint.  Any wood grain that's visible doesn't really look good.  WDYT?  I'm going to wait 2 hours and try one more coat of stain to see what that looks like.

Before applying stain:

After first pass -- Eek!:

After more applications of stain:

Better view of weirdest spots:

What it's SUPPOSED to look like:

[sierramist03]

Can you take a picture of your stain can

[nomad100]

Yikes.

I would let the stain dry completely, sand it lightly with some steel wool and do one more coat of the stain. I am assuming it is supposed to be more opaque than transparent?

Though, and I hate to say this, I would be surprised if it ever looks just like that sample since you don't have the darker contrasting bits in the table top wood.

[dr.girlfriend]

It's this stuff:

Final update is I put a second coat on, now it's just a flat grey blah. 

I'm going to go to the Benjamin Moore store tomorrow and get a light grey paint to try instead.  Do you think I can paint over this, or do I have to prime?  I was toying with the idea of brushing on some diluted paint to see if it shows some wood grain in the darker grey, but if that's going to screw everything up I'll just prime and paint.

[pitterwoo]

I would be so frustrated. I hate when that kind of thing happens.

If it's just the stain, with no finish, then you shouldn't need to prime.

[policegirl402]

I love the title of your post! Lol! I hate when I invest time and energy and it doesn't come out as expected.

[mrsg123]

Ugh. Frustrating!

[TBM]

Have you tried using steel wool on it? It might help get more of the look you are after.


ETA:  I would try steel wool, then staining again to get it more even...more steel wool then staining with a darker glaze that you wipe off quickly, just trying to leave it in the grain.

[pamela]

It does look like you've allowed to set and wiped unevenly, for example harder at the beginning of your stroke. Stain is so hard because it's supposed to work with the wood so what your wood starts out like has a huge impact on what the final looks like. Some woods are just never going to take it "right" to look like the picture.

[Laura Palmer]

I'm sorry, that's so frustrating.

[dr.girlfriend]

Sept 2, 2014 7:21:03 GMT -5 pamela said:

It does look like you've allowed to set and wiped unevenly, for example harder at the beginning of your stroke. Stain is so hard because it's supposed to work with the wood so what your wood starts out like has a huge impact on what the final looks like. Some woods are just never going to take it "right" to look like the picture.

Yeah, the thing is I started to wipe pretty quickly the first time, and I wiped in circles, so those "brush marks" are not from the stain being wiped off along those lines.  I suspect they're from where I applied the wrong (oil-based) conditioner with a foam brush, before I realized the problem, sanded, and applied the correct conditioner.  I knew that stains work differently with different woods, but I was hoping that a lightish pine would take the color pretty well.  :-(

[pamela]

Sept 2, 2014 8:25:41 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Sept 2, 2014 7:21:03 GMT -5 pamela said:

It does look like you've allowed to set and wiped unevenly, for example harder at the beginning of your stroke. Stain is so hard because it's supposed to work with the wood so what your wood starts out like has a huge impact on what the final looks like. Some woods are just never going to take it "right" to look like the picture.

Yeah, the thing is I started to wipe pretty quickly the first time, and I wiped in circles, so those "brush marks" are not from the stain being wiped off along those lines.  I suspect they're from where I applied the wrong (oil-based) conditioner with a foam brush, before I realized the problem, sanded, and applied the correct conditioner.  I knew that stains work differently with different woods, but I was hoping that a lightish pine would take the color pretty well. 

I think pine can be one of the harder things to stain because it soaks it up so unevenly. I should have taken detail pictures of my entryway unit that show it. The density is so uneven that some places it just won't penetrate and others it soaks in instantly.

[TBM]

Sept 2, 2014 8:25:41 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Yeah, the thing is I started to wipe pretty quickly the first time, and I wiped in circles, so those "brush marks" are not from the stain being wiped off along those lines. 

Always wipe (sand and pretty much anything else) with the grain.

[dr.girlfriend]

Sept 2, 2014 10:37:08 GMT -5 TBM said:

Sept 2, 2014 8:25:41 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Yeah, the thing is I started to wipe pretty quickly the first time, and I wiped in circles, so those "brush marks" are not from the stain being wiped off along those lines. 

Always wipe (sand and pretty much anything else anything else) with the grain.

I started that way, but then thought I was causing the streakiness, and so started with circles, but the streakiness happened regardless, which makes me think it's probably from the application of the wrong conditioner.  Plus the width of the streaks are the same as the foam brush I used. 

[sierramist03]

It does look like incorrect prestain made it streak. Did you decide to just paint? Have you considered a chalk paint with a destressed look?

[downtoearth]

That does seem bad. No advice, but knowing me I'd just sand down the whole thing again while cursing and then start over.