Staining magnifies blemishes

GrahamRounce · 22 Jun 2022

Hi - I've had not much luck in the past with this, so decided to follow the instructions! Cleaned with white spirit & sanded, twice.. Now the stain seems to stick on ok, and doesn't go all blotchy. -- That's just an fyi for those like me, who thought it wouldn't make much difference.

But now,there's another problem, namely that the tiniest sanding marks show up very plainly, vividly. Some areas, see the attempted handle in the pics, do look ok, but sanding marks (believe me, invisible before staining) remain in others.

White wood, quite dense, thoroughly sanded with 400, 600, 1200, stained with Colron Peruvian Mahogany

My question is, is there some way I can make any marks show up before I waste the time staining?

Thank-you very much,

niall Y · 22 Jun 2022

I think you are fighting a loosing battle trying to stain some woods. Whitewood , for instance can be particularly bad in this regard Irrespective of unseen sanding marks, the stain takes differently to end grain and the areas around knots, and you can end up with blotchy results.
Some folks apply a sealer first to stop this happening. So in effect you are peering through the stain to the wood below, rather than having the wood directly stained. I came across some videos on Youtube. recently, that demonstrate this approach. Another method, which is the one I adopt when spraying ,is to first apply sanding sealer and to then add stain to the to top coats to build up the colour

Just4Fun · 22 Jun 2022

niall Y said:
Some folks apply a sealer first to stop this happening.

I have tried that. When it works it is great but my results have been inconsistent. Worst case, the stain seems to float on top of the sealer and the colour is much lighter than expected.

profchris · 22 Jun 2022

A coat of shellac will highlight sanding marks. Sand them away, reapply, repeat until all gone. Then sand back to bare wood and stain.

A splash of white spirit will do this too, but it evaporates fast so you have to remember where the marks were.

MARK.B. · 22 Jun 2022

I have in the past tried to go with higher grit numbers to save time but have found it best to start with lower 80 grit and work my way up through the various grits ,with each higher grit removing the marks left behind by the previous lower grit.It is important to Not miss out any of the grades, It may take a little longer but the end results are always better. The majority of the bits n bobs that i make usually only go as high as 240 grit with de nibbing between coats at 400