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.

For example, the very bottom picture looks like the stain was applied SO unevenly...But it wasn't! And I rubbed and rubbed! What the heck is my DEAL HERE?!?!

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

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erinlynntole

Please...I know SOMEONE out there has some helpful input!

rrbrown

Welcome to the forum. I'm not that great with finish problems but I'm thinking you could have used more conditioner or smaller stain amounts and quicker wipe time. You may try reposting under "Finishing" just copy and paste it there and you may get more responses. If not give another day they may have overlooked it, but one of these guys can probably help.

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RHarkins

If you didn't completely get the old finish off, it would affect the absorbtion rate for the new finish.

clampman

I would say you are out of luck unless you want everything stained black.

The only other way I know of to remedy that situation is re-sanding very deeply if you want to get rid of the black. Then I would wash coat everything with 1 lb cut shellac before staining again. I would do a washcoat on the bottom of one chair seat and stain it to see how to get the color you are after. Then proceed thought as many bottoms as necessary until you have settled on a proceedure.

I would sand no finer than 120 grit on the bare wood. Save the fine papers for after your sanding sealer is applied.

Good luck.

Jimc

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Gerry KIERNAN

Looking at your pictures I think the back of the chair looks pretty good. The legs do look a little rough though. It is the nature of wood to absorb stain at different levels and hues depending on where it hits the grain, and how soft/hard, or porous the wood is at that location.
You can try applying more stain to the legs, in which case they will darken up. You can try thinning the stain to give it a lighter hue.
You can also try stripping the areas you don't like and restaining them.
Do some small areas for practice, such as on the underside of the chair, or back, until you establish the colour and darkness that you want, and how to achieve it.
Don't despair, staining wood is a learned art, and can take a little while to work the kinks out.

Gerry

Gravel7

I realize I am a bit of a hack (I will not measure to a precision greater than 1/32 because tapes that measure to 1/64 make me want to freak out) but I think the chairs look very nice as pictured. Maybe you want to sand out some of the dark areas and re-apply as described by some of the posters..........or just call the dark areas "character".

joesdad

After many years of trial and error using Minwax and other stains, I'll say ther is a place for their product and that project would not be one of them. As others have mentioned they don't look totally awful, but I can understand your disapointment with the results. I have better luck with gel stains and powdered dyes you can mix with water. Your two biggest oponents on that job are areas where you think you got all of the old finish off (Even when there's no more color, some old finishes penetrate deeper in certain areas than others creating a barrier to accept the new color) and understanding the character of different species, and how hard and soft areas of the wood absorb stain at a different rate.

How to fix it? You can try and spot color the lighter areas to try and even it out, or let it completely cure and start over. Removing the darker areas are much harder than the latter. Beautiful chairs by the way, I'd keep at it.

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Jim Tank

I have this reocurring dream that where ever I log on or where ever I click ... this problem is discussed or these chairs are being worked on... Is this dejavue or am I just on an imaginary refinishing merry-go-round??

Leo G

Go get the minwax natural stain. It is just the stain base with no pigments. It is also the conditioner you bought under a different label and a bigger price tag. Soak a rag in the stain base and rub it into the darker areas. You need to do this with finesse and try to stay away from the lighter areas. You should be able to erase some of the darkness. Adding stain to the lighter areas will darken them too. You may have to go both ways, lightening areas and darkening others. The other thing you can do is to make a shading coat. If you have spray equipment you can put a colorant into the clear and spray the chairs. Making more passes over the lighter areas making them darker. Good luck.

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erinlynntole

Thanks so much for all your advice...I'm going to lighten the dark spots and apply more stain on the light spots...I know it won't be perfect but I really ended up liking the beat-up look of these. I think they DO have a lot of character. I got them from a 50 year old man who said they were his grandparents...and that they'd had them his whole childhood, so i think they're pretty old.

Sorry I posted this in the general forum and was told to move it here. Hopefully the above posters recurring dream will soon come to an end.

Erin