You are here:

Cabinets, Furniture, Woodworks/Six piece tabletop taking stain unevenly

Advertisement

Expert: - 12/18/2008


Question

Six plank table top
Hi,
First, thank you for your Q&A services.  I've learned a great deal from your answers to previous questions.

I am attempting to refinish a pine coffee table.  After completely stripping and sanding the tabletop to the bare wood, I saw where one of the pine planks is much lighter than the other five (see the picture).  I applied a wood conditioner to the entire table before staining, hoping that all the planks would stain evenly.  The five darker planks stained beautifully.  The lighter plank - not so much.  The stain absorbed unevenly in that plank.  It ended up being much lighter than the other five. I wasn't happy with the result. I have since re-stripped the table top and am ready to try again.  

Is there something I can do to make sure the stain absorbs evenly in that piece of wood?  The grain pattern is much wider in that plank than the other five.  Do the pattern and the lightness of the wood suggest it is harder or softer than the other five pieces of wood and hence will always stain differently?

Thank you in advance,
Kevin

Answer
Hi Kevin
Nice to hear from you.
Gosh after all your work to have this.
The finish you stripped off will have been colored lacquer which will have masked this variation in the pine.
The wood is neither harder or softer than the other pieces but likely cut from a different tree.
It is quite common to see this variation in pine table tops.
If you used stripper for the second removal, all the conditioner should hopefully be off. So try an little test. Use the stain on the light board without the conditioner underneath.
Perhaps it will absorb the stain better.
Use the conditioner on the remaining boards as you did the first time.
Kevin you did not say what type of stain you used but perhaps try a gel stain if the above does not work with the stain you used originally.
Keep me posted
Regards
Eileen

Eileen Cronk

Expertise

Hi..I can answer most questions about the repairing,stripping and refinishing of all your old furniture and wood items(the things we call antiques)I can give advice about what to buy/avoid at auctions/flea markets. I do not give appraisals on antiques.

Experience

I have been refinishing antiques for the past 30yrs. While I have taken several courses over the years,I have found that "hands on" learning is the best teacher. Perhaps I can help you avoid some of the mistakes I made while learning.

©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.