Pretreatment of pine wood for staining

[Duane Bledsoe]

Hello. I was watching an episode of Holmes on Homes last night on the HGTV channel and heard someone say that pine wood does not accept stain very well but you can wipe down the wood with a wet rag to open up the wood grain so it stains more evenly. Then after staining, wipe the wood down with a rag (did not say whether wet or dry) after about 5 minutes to ensure an even stain.

I was about to purchase a can of pretreatment for stain but if just plain water will work I could save myself a good bit of money since this project would be rather large (a flight of stair treads). Does anyone have any suggestions to make the job easier?? I plan to just use basic 2x10's for the treads and probably 1x8's for the risers. These are not staingrade woods but are much more affordable and I can sand the surfaces of them, stain, and finally varnish them and I don't see why they won't look just as good when finished.

[Joe Chritz]

They don't look as good because of the way they accept stain in the different parts of the wood. You can get acceptable results but I would do some tests first to be sure you see what you like.

Stain conditioner is usually some kind of sealer. You can use a very thin (1# to 1.5# cut) of dewaxed shellac sold as zinseer seal coat. It is a 2# cut to start with.

Joe

[Jim Finn]

I have pre treated small pine or fir items with wallboard joint compound in water . Mixed about to the consistancy of milk. Allow to dry and sand off. It takes a lot of sanding but then the stain goes on evenly.

[Joe Pack]

Buy a can of wood conditioner. Pine stained without some sort of conditioner is just plain blotchy and ugly.

Yes, you can mix your own. Yes, you can save a couple of bucks. But, if your time is worth anything and you want a uniform product, just spend $10 on a quart of any brand wood conditioner and be done with it. A little goes a long way.

The wood conditioner will soak into the softer areas of the pine so that it does not absorb stain as deeply later on. On end grain or small tear outs, soak them with as much as they will absorb.

The only downside to using wood conditioners is that you might want to buy a shade or two darker stain than the end color you want. The conditioner will not allow as much stain to penetrate as the the color sample board in the store. To be sure, make a test board with conditioner and test a small dab of stain to see the final color.

[Matt Meiser]

A friend of mine turned me on to thinned Sealcoat as a pre-conditioner and it has worked really well for me on trim in the house.

[Duane Bledsoe]

I think I'll just get the wood conditioner. Sounds like a lot less hassle. I'm new to woodworking and finishing so I want to make it as nice as I can for the money I'm spending. Later on when I get more experience in this then I'll dabble in the saving money side of it all. For now I think I just need to follow the instructions.

I may try some scrap 2x4's I have laying around here though with the water wipe down to see what would happen. Can't hurt anything there.

[Matt Meiser]

Sealcoat is a good product to keep in stock in your shop anyway. It makes a great quick finish for jigs or utility projects. And its good for a sealer under waterborne products.

[Lee Koepke]

Duane, the 2x4s are likely different than the SYP you are using for the treads/risers. Construction lumber is usually SPF / Spruce/Pine/Fir ... best results are to use a cut-off the actual wood you are using.

I have found that with pine, you wipe the stain on, then (relatively) quickly wipe the excess off. What that means is, you may need 2 coats to get your color, but not letting it soak in really helps with the blotching. If you wait too long, even with conditioner, pine will end up blotchy, so wipe before it dries.

[Scott Holmes]

Pine 2X material will be a very soft step, these step threads and especially the finish on them is not going to last very long.