Quick and Dirty Stain for shop table

[Brian Kent]

I am waiting for the glue to dry on a lathe table. It is made of seven 2x4's glued together.

It is cheap and functional but I would prefer to disguise the pine a bit (just for my own sake - nobody else cares).

Is there a stain or coating you would recommend for "kiln-dried" pine? I just want to mellow the color a bit, not to create fine garage furniture.

Thanks.

[Brian Kent]

Hearing no negative advise, I'll probably do a coat of de-waxed shellac to fill pores, pick any old stain from the Borg, and add another coat or two of dewaxed shellac for good measure.

[Prashun Patel]

Brian-
Personally, I wouldn't stain it. Staining pine is hit or miss. If it blotches, it might look 'worse' than it does now.

If it were me, I'd leave it unfinished. If anything, mix up some Boiled Linseed oil with wax or polyurethane and wipe that on. It'll give it some amber and mild protection.

FWIW, my lathe bench is unfinished. Since it does not see anything but shavings, it hasn't gotten as filthy as my workbench, so I don't think any finish is necessary.

Have you run the 2x4 'slab' through your planer a couple times? That'll pretty it up a lot.

[Pat Barry]

Brian, I used a Minwax stain called Fruitwood on bare pine. It gave the pine a nice honey color, and then I overcoated with poly. I never used a sealer on the pine, wasn't educated enough at the time, but it turned out really nice.

[Todd Burch]

I like letting pine age at least 6 years before adding a clear or amber topcoat.

[Brian Kent]

I sanded it for quite a number of passes on the drum sander. That improved the looks some, from a stack of 2x4's to a nice flat table. I added 2 coats of dewaxed shellac and it honeyed up just fine.

Thanks everybody.

[Todd Burch]

Brian, I don't have a drum sander. Are the areas I'm pointing to in your picture divots from the drum sander?

[Prashun Patel]

Not that it matters much here, Brian, but that can looks like Zinsser Bulls Eye, which I don't believe is dewaxed...?

Also, Bullseye is about 3# cut. A 'wash coat' as a pre-stain conditioner would be between 1 and 1.5#. Two coats of Bullseye will likely inhibit most stain penetration. You might be better off (?) just switching to Bullseye Amber if you really want some color.

I'm sure you know this, but a shellacked surface will be brittle and will look beat up in short order. *I* don't mind this on a workbench, but if you do, then you might do better to stop with the shellac, and put a couple coats of BLO with wax or BLO with varnish on top. These will make the top more amber vis-a-vis that Blonde bullseye you have.

[Jerome Hanby]

Wow what a good eye. I think that Seal Coat (the de-waxed version) from Zinnser has a label that is a little pinkish...


Not that it matters much here, Brian, but that can looks like Zinsser Bulls Eye, which I don't believe is dewaxed...?

Also, Bullseye is about 3# cut. A 'wash coat' as a pre-stain conditioner would be between 1 and 1.5#. Two coats of Bullseye will likely inhibit most stain penetration. You might be better off (?) just switching to Bullseye Amber if you really want some color.

I'm sure you know this, but a shellacked surface will be brittle and will look beat up in short order. *I* don't mind this on a workbench, but if you do, then you might do better to stop with the shellac, and put a couple coats of BLO with wax or BLO with varnish on top. These will make the top more amber vis-a-vis that Blonde bullseye you have.

[Brian Kent]

Brian, I don't have a drum sander. Are the areas I'm pointing to in your picture divots from the drum sander?

Good eye!
Yes, Todd. These are definitely divots.I used an outfeed roller but not an infeed support. They come from running a 6' x 2' table top many times through an 18" wide sander without an assistant. If this were an actual table (such as for dining room use) I definitely would have needed to use an infeed support, a friend, and jointer plane, and a hand sander.

[Brian Kent]

Wow what a good eye. I think that Seal Coat (the de-waxed version) from Zinnser has a label that is a little pinkish...

I agree. Very good eye. I had not even realized that I had gotten the wrong can of shellac. I'm glad that ended up as the finish coat. Otherwise I would have to buy some dewaxed shellac to go on top of my Bull's Eye shellac.

Prashun, I bet you could tell the difference by the aroma too!

[Brian Kent]

Prashun, if I do add a BLO with wax or varnish, can I just sane and go, or do I need to add seal coat (dewaxed) shellac?

[Prashun Patel]

You can sand and go, but you'd only need to do that for feel; it's not needed for adhesion. The OV or OW blend will go on fine.

Do you have an aniline dye on hand? You can put a few drops in your shellac and just continue with that if all yr after is some color. Didja get the cherry I sent you?

[Brian Kent]

No and No.

I have read the words "analine dye" but have never seen any in the wild. And no, not yet, but I am really looking forward to the cherry!

Brian