Anyone knows about wood stain?

[rnln]

I bought a can of Red Mahogany, brand Varathane from Home Depot. Picked up some pne wood and wiped the stain on it to test. Came back about 1/2 hour later, no stain. The color is a little different. I don't want to say darker because it's only a tiny darker. I wiped some more on it and came back later, still not darker. Repea that 3 times and still no red. With this rate, I guess I have to repeat it 1,000 times to get close to red/dark.
Can someone tell me what I don't know? Any other type of stain gets wood dark quicker?

[masraum]

did you stir the stuff up really well before you applied it?

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by rnln

pne wood .................wiped the stain

Is it possible that the pine wood sample already had a finish or clear sealer on it?

Try another piece of wood. Maybe there is just too much natural resin in it.

Stir do not shake the can, you don't want to be fighting air bubbles all day.

Is this a wipe-on style stain or brush on - then wipe off excess?

[cbush]

Is is red Mahogany Varathane or red Mahogany stain. Once you put the first coat of a colored varathane on it, you seal the wood, and it gets no darker.

I usually use a variety of stains to get the level of darkness I want. To get a dark mahogany, I often have to use part ebony. Play with a test piece of wood. After it is stained, then put a finish on it- clear varathane, tung oil, etc.

you get the most color with the first application on fresh wood.

This is what I use

[targa911S]

Are you putting it on pine? Hard woods do not like to take oil based stains, try using an alcohol based stain if it is a hardwood.

[RoninLB]

maybe try cleaning the raw wood with acetone or thinner first

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Sand first, shake well then stain. If you're getting the same issue after that then perhaps the batch of stain is bad (?) Is there a date code on it? Maybe it was sitting around a while?

[gr8fl4porsche]

Make sure wood is raw. Drop a little water on the board - if it beads up then you will have issues. If it soaks in then you are good.

Stir the stain very well. You will most likely find an inch of solids at the bottom of the cam which need to be completely dissolved in the product. 10 minutes of stirring is not too much.

The raw board should readily accept the stain - instantly.

Apply a generous amount, the longer it soaks in the darker the color - up to a point. After a few minutes, lightly wipe off excess paying attention to the look of the project. If it looks bad wet, it will look bad dry. Stain should be evenly applied.

Pine should be pre-conditioned to aid in equalizing the absorption of the stain between the harder and softer grains of the wood.

[David]

+1 on what Chuck wrote. Stain is what you need to make it darker.

For my recent kitchen cabinet project, I used Minwax Red Sedona on Cherry. I applied it very wet and made sure there were no streaks. Then I let it dry as opposed to wiping it off unlike what the instructions read. The downside of this is the long dry time. I let it dry for 2 weeks because I used a water based polyurethane. But it did give a dark stain.

[cbush]

Remember, they sell a variety of products-some of which are a combination of stain and sealer. They stain effect on these combination products is pretty light--and once you put it on and let it dry it is sealed and won't get darker no matter how much more you apply. If that is what RNLN uses, he will have to strip it before he can apply a stain only product to get it darker.

[rnln]

Yes, stirred.
Nope, wood is not finished for sure. I tried 2 pieces of wood. One is the left over moulding. This might have something on the surface, but I don’t believe so. Second piece is bare wood for sure. Yes, water soak on it. The stain soaked on it too, just not much color.
10 mins of stiring? Oh mine. I only stirred it for 2 seconds. Will try again.
It’s something similar to this:

[cbush]

You are right- not a finish, just a stain.

I looked it up, and the spec sheet on it said that soft woods such as pine, fir, and maple require a wood conditioner. "Use Varathane Premium Wood Conditioner before staining".

I have no idea what that is, and how it would effect the staining process though. The other advice on the spec sheet was that "For a deeper color, allow the stain to set for 1 hour before wiping, or apply additional coats of stain."

Hope that helps- that is the extent of my limited knowledge on staining!

[rnln]

ok, I'll try to shake/stir it well for 10-15 minute this time, and leave it untouch for over an hour and let's see.

[targa911S]

Wood conditioner seals the end grains on soft wood so it covers more evenly. If you don't seal the end grain it will be much darker as it wicks more stain.

[duncan1437]

theres some tips here:

View Essential Guide to Wood Finishing video from expert Bruce Johnson.

the wood conditioner is discussed in Part 3 starting at 4:30

[gr8fl4porsche]

When you stir, make sure to dig deep into the bottom of the can. Stain has a bad habit of settling when it sits on the shelf for too long. The settled solids can be extremely firm. You basically have to dig the good stuff off the bottom and stir, stir and stir some more. It may feel like the stir stick will break due to the solids being very stiff - almost glue-like.

[GDNF2ET]

I think you got a bad can..Take a sample of the wood and the stain with the receipt to the counter where they mix the paint..They will figure it out...

[David]

Don't shake. Stir until there a no solids on your stir stick. For open grain woods like pine and cherry, you may want to use a light 1 lb coat of shellac to seal the grain so the stain doesn't bleed out of the grains.

[john70t]

The box stores sell colored stains as well.
These stay on top of the wood surface and can be sanded off, but they don't penetrate the grain and won't wear the same.

Takes a bit of artistry to match it exactly. Always best to buy a pint and experiment on scrap pieces first....

[look 171]

its a stain so shaking is fine. I always stir just get the resin off the bottom before I shake it. With Red Mahogany, it is a tiny bit harder to get the red to stay on pine ( Red Mahogany usually need 2 coats. Let dry and not wipe all of it off). Pine just does not suck up stain too well. What are you actually going to stain? Usually a open or semi open grain wood will take stain better.

Sand your piece of pine with a 80, then 100 and work your way down to 150. Re-stain it again. Another way is to stain the raw wood once or twice. Tint your top coat with a reddish brown color to bring out a little more color but still able to see the grain.

There are other ways to do this. Try it first then fire away with more questions.

Jeff