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Stain Job Gone Horribly Wrong - Twice! Please Help!

1K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  Quickstep 
#1 ·
I was beside myself with excitement when I found this beautiful, solid wood dresser for $25 at a thrift store. But it's turned in to a never-ending nightmare, and the money I've had to pour into it has made it much less of a bargain.

Attempt #1: I stripped the finish off with varnish stripper, then there were a couple of spots on the drawers that still had some varnish left, so I spot-treated those with stripper, scraped, then sanded the drawers down. Applied the stain & it looked great... except in the places where I'd spot-treated with stripper - those spots soaked up more stain, leaving me with a blotchy mess.

I found an old thread on this forum that let me know I needed to sand down to bare wood, then use a wood conditioner before staining again. This meant purchasing a sander, but the dresser was a bargain, so I justified it pretty easily.

Attempt #2: I applied the wood conditioner, followed directions found on the can & on this site, then applied the same stain I had before. But this time it was MUCH darker & redder, so I quickly ran to the store and picked up more stain. Ended up mixing two together as everything seemed too light or too dark. Finally, I coated them down, but it was like I never put wood conditioner on! The grain was way darker than it had been before, and the result is a mess!!

I'm attaching the before picture, along with what it currently looks like. The top right drawer is the only one I like - it actually turned out the first time, so I didn't sand it down. The top right was my test piece after I realized the stain was too dark. The rest are all so different from each other, I don't even know where to begin.

I don't know what else to do. I know I'm probably going to have to sand the drawers down again, but I need to get it right this time. Help!! I know it's possible, because the manufacturers did it the first time.
 

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#2 ·
The company that manufactured the dresser used a dye stain for the color. It was a lighter color and sprayed on.

To me it looks like you got the entire dresser completely stripped except for the top right drawer. It appears to have enough of the old finish on it to prevent you from staining it.

From where you are if you are wanting to go back with the original color it's going to have to be stripped and sanded again. As dark as that stain is you may need to use bleach too to get rid of it. Then if you don't have the means of spraying you need to get a compressor and a sprayer and use this stain. http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog_browse.asp?ictNbr=178 More than likely it's the mustard color. This stain you spray an even coat on at low pressure and just let it dry which is only 10 minutes at the longest. There won't be any need for a wood conditioner but you need to ignore the appearance of it while you are spraying it. It goes on and looks like you did nothing and there is an overwhelming temptation to put a second or third coat on. Then you find out the first coat was enough and the second and third coat was too much. If though you put a coat of clear on and discover it was too light you can scuff sand the finish and put another coat of the stain over the top of the first coat of finish. The stuff is similar to ink and is very transparent so you can use it between coats.
 
#3 ·
Thank you so much for your reply!! We got everything sanded down, and I will definitely need to bleach the wood. Do you have any recommendations on what type of wood bleach to use?

I'm going to use the dye you recommended & get a sprayer! I really want to get it right this time.
 
#5 ·
Two part wood bleach is suppose to be better but anytime I've used it I didn't get any better results than just plain clorox clothes bleach. By using an oil stain you have a lot of dark pigment which has penetrated into the grain. That won't just wash off, not even with professional paint stripper.

The dye goes a very long way. Probably a quart bottle would do a half dozen pieces that size. Test it on a small area and see if it works. If it's too dark thin it with alcohol.
 
#4 ·
The stain looks great


It reminds me of Brazilian Rosewood or some exotic wood. :thumbsup:
The upper right hand drawer is the odd ball and if you did strip it, I would repeat that process and try the stain again.

What is the top looking like? Post a photo of that also.:wink2:
 
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