I sanded a pine shelf through 120, 180 and 220 grit, wiped the dust off, and put on a medium-brown stain. The result looks like a map of islands: dark patches beside areas that hardly took any color. I tested a scrap after the fact and got the same mess. Would a pre-stain conditioner have prevented most of it, or is a tinted film finish the better way to make inexpensive softwood look even? I'm happy to redo the piece if that's what it takes.
Getting a blotchy finish on softwood despite careful sanding
- woodworking
- blotchy
- finish
- softwood
75
1 reply
Also worth checking whether the sanding was too uniform for the wood. Pine can still grab stain unevenly even when the grit progression look...
Also worth checking whether the sanding was too uniform for the wood. Pine can still grab stain unevenly even when the grit progression looks perfect on paper.
Yep. Softwood is a little rude that way. If the piece matters, test conditioner on scrap before you commit again.
1 reply
Pine blotches like that usually mean the stain soaked unevenly, so yes, conditioner would likely help. It won’t make pine look like oak, but...
Pine blotches like that usually mean the stain soaked unevenly, so yes, conditioner would likely help. It won’t make pine look like oak, but it can stop the dark islands.
Or skip the stain entirely and use a tinted finish if you just want even color. I’ve had better luck with that on cheap shelves than trying to force stain to behave.