erinlynntole

So...I decided I wanted to redo some old chairs I found in a junk shop...I loved the lines of them and really wanted a little project...I've never done any woodwork before.

but that being said, I went to the library, got a few books, and stripped and sanded for a long time on this set of 6 chairs. I got them completely down to the bare wood...no finish left on at all. Then went over them with fine grit sandpaper and proceeded to stain them.

I used a wood conditioner because I have no idea what sort of wood these are and didn't want to ruin them after I spent so much time stripping/sanding. Sooo....I decided to try MinWax dark walnut stain...and you'd think I put it on with a blindfold on! I put it on, let it sit for a few minutes and proceeded to wipe the stain off and rub to blend. There didn't appear to be any "blending" after the stain was wiped off...

Some parts of the wood appear to be taking the stain fine, and others it absorbs to almost black in the most random places.

I will say that I was planning on antique-ing these chairs after finishing anyway, roughing up the edges a bit. But now I think I got what I asked for because they look really old...The stain seems to have brought out grain where there wasn't any before. Ugh! I don't know what to do!

These pics are of the chair after one round of stain...Please help...I like the "old" look but these look like they've been through a fire! Will another layer of stain help? Last time I tried this, I seemed to just wipe BOTH layers of stain off after letting it sit for 15.

I'm getting frustrated. Advice Please????

firehawkmph

Erin,
The pics didn't show up. Did you hit the 'upload button' right after choosing your photos? It must be done before closing the window. Really need to see some pics before we can help. Keep in mind one thing about staining though. When you put the stain on and it dries, it sometimes looks pretty bad until you start putting on the final finish.
Mike Hawkins

erinlynntole

apparently when I went back to re-add the pictures, I accidentally posted the whole thing twice. Check out the other thread!

Oh...and finish aside, i think these might be a whole new level of bad...