Biggest wood staining mistakes and misconceptions | Wood staining BASICS

For some reason it seems as though a lot of brand new woodworkers get the urge to stain their projects I partially credit those TV remodeling shows for this popularity Now there isn't anything wrong with wood staining but there are some misconceptions about it and how to use it that I thought I'd clear up my goodness Steve and this is Woodworking for Mere Mortals the channel dedicated to helping total beginners get started in woodworking I am confident that anyone can build cool stuff without a lot of space or expensive tools and I want you to start building this weekend by giving you free detailed plans to build this the BMW the basic mobile workbench join the thousands of other people who have built the BMW as their very first woodworking project by heading over to basicmobileworkbench.com download the free plans and watch the first part of a step by step video to get you started before staining wood Ask yourself why you want to change its color One of the decisions that goes into selecting a type of wood for a project is its natural color when we're talking about hardwoods such as maple walnut oak etc Most woodworkers prefer to show off the natural wood tones with a clear topcoat only Seeing thing the grain and color pop immediately after applying a protective finish is super satisfying and wood will darken over time Here's what cherry looks like after just a few years so while staining hardwoods isn't unheard of there are instances when you might need to match existing furniture or slightly alter the shade it's pretty unusual but keep in mind these are just personal preferences if you like the colors you get by staining any kind of wood and they make you happy go for it don't limit yourself to arbitrary woodworking rules when it comes to aesthetics Personally I sometimes like to stain oak with a golden oak stain It gives it rich natural color that doesn't look fake The whole idea behind stain is that you can color the wood but not cover up the grain the way paint does wood stains are probably most commonly used on pine boards and plywood Typically pine is the cheapest lumber you could buy and a light color can make it seem like a blank canvas it seems so commonplace that we may feel the need to make it appear more sophisticated by adding some color again keep in mind like all woods pine will also darken over time to a rich yellowish hue I think pine is a beautiful highly underrated species and can look fantastic with just a clear finish consider it embracing its character feature boards with knots and unusual grain patterns but sometimes people might find pine just too rustic looking and since it's pretty inexpensive why not experiment with some color this makes sense and trying out different stain colors could be a lot of fun some stains can look unnatural When you go to the home sitter or hardware store to select a color you'll see all kinds of samples but in my experience they don't really look much like the wood species their names imply but again if a bold dyed look is what you like own it for a more natural look go more subtle with shades a slight alteration to a woods color can go a long way on the entire project Stains don't protect wood stains color wood aside from some stains that come with a polyurethane blend or say color danish oil you will need to apply a top coat over your stain to protect the wood from UV damage scratches spills etc for some reason a lot of people begin woodworking thinking that staining wood is a requirement for her completed project mostly they're confusing wood stain with a wood finish and I do believe a protective wood finish is a requirement for most woodworking projects Another thing to keep in mind is that once you commit to a color and apply it to your project that deed is done there is no undo button unlike paint which just sits on top of the wood and could be sanded off wood stain penetrates deep into the fibers of the wood like a sponge absorbing water make sure you sand the wood well before applying stain any scratches will be enhanced by stain sanding will also help open up the pores of the wood so that they can better absorb the stain start out with 80 grit to remove big scratches and imperfections then move up to 120 and finally 220 grit sandpaper make sure you remove any sanding dust from the surface vacuuming is ideal to remove any dust from inside those wood pores you cannot just brush on a coat of stain like you would paint and just wait for it to dry you'll end up frustrated and disappointed when parts of it still feel sticky after a few days when wood has absorbed all the stain at once the rest just sits on the surface and doesn't like to drive to prevent this from happening you must wipe off the excess stain after applying it By the way this isn't just some woodworking hack the label on the can will tell you exactly how to apply stain correctly so read it The applicator you choose for applying stain doesn't matter you can certainly use a brush if you like but I would rather use a foam brush because they're cheap and disposable and they make cleanup a lot easier but go-to method for applying a stain is to use a rag Old t-shirts are great for this but sometimes I just use a paper towel for smaller projects the idea is to get plenty of stain all over the surfaces then wait a short time for it to soak in Usually twenty or thirty minutes is fine then this is the important part wipe everything down with a clean rag if you want the shade to be a little bit darker you can apply a second coat this one won't soak in as much since the pores of the wood are mostly saturated so you can wipe it off after maybe 10 minutes or so I don't usually apply two coats wood stains have a nasty habit of distributing themselves unevenly on soft woods such as pine which causes blotching this is especially cruel since pine is most likely the kind of wood you want to stain to reduce blotching you need to apply a wood conditioner or sealer before applying stain stain manufacturers will recommend their own conditioners or you could use shellac as a sealer coat under oil based stains basically a conditioner will stabilise the wood to allow the stain to penetrate more evenly to use wood conditioner just quickly brush it or wipe it on and let it penetrate and then wipe it off just like you would with a stain the only difference here is that you need to apply the stain before the conditioner completely dries usually within two hours or so the biggest question that comes up here is can you apply an oil finish such as polyurethane over a water-based stain and vice versa Technically as long as the stain is completely dry you may have to wait give it a few days any topcoat will work fine personally I prefer not to chance mixing oil and water products and will use oil finishes over oil stains and water-based finishes over water-based stains and with lacquer I've never had problems applying it over either type of stain. Thanks for watching everybody

Channel: Steve Ramsey - Woodworking for Mere Mortals

Views: 2,403,478

Rating: 4.8701468 out of 5

Keywords: woodworking, woodworking project, how-to, DIY, easy woodworking, steve ramsey, WWMM, Mere Mortals, The Weekend Woodworker, woodworking plans, Free plans, wood, making, building, makers, hobby, weekend projects, Weekend Woodworker, power tools, wood stain, woodstain, wood finish, finishing, woodworking mistakes, shop class, jointery, basic mobile workbench, blotchy stain

Id: vfeAxUfoEdE

Length: 7min 44sec (464 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 15 2019