Tips for Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner?
I have mostly oak trim and doors that I will stain and polyurethane. No problem. However I also have two pine windows that will be trimmed with oak, and I wanted to stain them to match. Experimenting on a pine scrap, I got the Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner and followed the not-very-specific directions on the label: Used a cotton cloth to wipe on liberally. Wiped off a bit of excess after about 12 minutes. Waited about five minutes and then put on my Minwax Dura-Seal stain with a Minwax stain brush. Left that on for five minutes and then wiped off excess with a cotton cloth. It looks horrible: The grainy part is dark and but there is a large area around the edge of a knot that looks like it has nothing on it. The pre-stain does not say how long I must wait before staining, just that I should finish staining within two hours. Any tips? What would you do? Thanks. 5 minutes is VERY long for staining. Try wiping stain on, and wiping off. If you have knots, they will soak up the stain like a sponge if they are rough cut. If they are 'smooth' then they will not accept stain. Period. Staining is not an exact science. If you want a smooth 'even' look, wood conditioner will be your best bet. If that still is not even enough, you might try adding some stain to you finish. Then use your stain/finish mix as the actual coating. It will not soak into the wood as it is suspended in poly/varnish. Only add about 1 oz per quart. A bit more wont hurt you, but it tends to cloud it up if you use more. This type of finish will in effect 'float' on top of the grain. If you use more than 3 coats, you might as well paint your wood. Hope that helps. I don't usually use wood conditioner but have on occasion. I normally make my own [extra thin sanding sealer] and always brush or spray it on the wood. I don't ever remember wiping it off. Because conditioner lightly seals the wood it will affect the stain color. It may work best to have a different color stain for the pine - to make them the same color. You may not need conditioner on the windows - just the sash, right? Pine boards usually stain different than the pine sash on a window. Window sash usually stains fairly uniform and often stains lighter than other pine. Whenever using tinted poly/varnish it is best to use clear for the top coat to protect the color coat [s] 5 minutes is VERY long for staining. Try wiping stain on, and wiping off. Thanks. The brush and a 'dwell' time of about 15 minutes worked nicely for the stain on oak but based on what you're saying it is too much for the pine. That makes sense because the pine soaked it up very fast anyway, and there were just a couple of small spots where there was excess anyway. I will wipe on, and wipe off. Yes, oak is a hard wood which also means it obsorbs stain at a slower rate than a soft wood like pine.
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