How can I fix this?

[Robert Hartmann]

I'm putting in new baseboards in one of our rooms. We just put down new floors and we wanted the baseboards to match better than what we had (very light). I'm using a Behr water-based stain on pine. I put two coats on it and it wasn't quite dark enough, per my wife. I applied the third coat just as the first two. When I went back to wipe off the excess it had dried. I put the first two coats on in the garage (unheated, so about 50 deg) and the third inside. Obviously a lot warmer and probably drier.

Is my only option to sand and start over? Of course these were the two longest sections (12 and 13 ft). If shorter I might just start over.

You can see the streaks on one board, which I wiped off sooner. The other board you can see all the dark brown when it should match the other board. I use dyes for my woodworking projects and haven't used a stain in a while. Looks like I need to stick to dyes.

Baseboards.jpg

[Mel Fulks]

My guess is the pine has a lot of pitch. The fix is paint.

[John TenEyck]

Stripper or sanding, or buying new pieces, are your options. I'd buy new.

If you need to extend the working time you can lay it on thicker and wipe after a shorter time. Another option is to add 3 - 5% of GF's or BM's Extender product. They will extend the open time significantly. Those products are different but do the same thing. You can use GF's product with WB stains, paints, and clearcoats. BM's product works with WB stains and paints, but not clearcoats.

John

[Rich Engelhardt]

I'd try scrubbing it with some Parson's ammonia while it still fresh enough for the ammonia to cut.
Rinse well - sand the fuzz off lightly and see where it is after that.

[Robert Hartmann]

Thanks all, I ran it through the planer and then hand sanded the edging. I learned my lesson on applying water-based stain. As I mentioned I haven't used stains in a while and can't remember ever using water-based stains. I'll stick to dyes. That said, they came out pretty good, so on to painting the room.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Waterborne wood stains are pretty bad.
I used one 20 years ago & it appears there hasn't been much progress in them in all that time.
I sure hope they figure out something before they make the oil based stains go away.