Staining an unfinished stand
- Thread starter Sfork
- Start date
. Should I used the regular wood stain or should I use outdoor waterproof stain?
Qwiv
Supporting Member
I wouldn't worry about the stain as you need to seal it once you are done with the stain. A good poly will work. I would not recommend one of those stain/seal type products unless you were doing a deck.
What finish are you going for? There are tons of tutorials online about finishing wood. For a stand, I would follow the directions of an online tutorial and make sure the sealer you choose for the last step is door to the water environment.
What finish are you going for? There are tons of tutorials online about finishing wood. For a stand, I would follow the directions of an online tutorial and make sure the sealer you choose for the last step is door to the water environment.
Qwiv
Supporting Member
Nope. Stain for color and seal for durability.
There are definite tricks to staining. You going light or dark? What type of wood? How much grain do you want to see?
When you stain, work in small areas like side/front/door/etc and keep the process consistent from piece to piece. Ideally you want apply the stain and let it sit on each piece for the same amount of time then wipe it off. The stain will soak in over time so the longer you leave it, the darker it gets, to a point. So try to be consistent as you can. You can always stain a piece more than once and often that is desired to get the look you want.
I would practice on the back of your doors first and make sure you can get them all to match and at a color you like. If you don't want a lot of grain in your finish, put a light seal coat on first, stain then seal again.
There are definite tricks to staining. You going light or dark? What type of wood? How much grain do you want to see?
When you stain, work in small areas like side/front/door/etc and keep the process consistent from piece to piece. Ideally you want apply the stain and let it sit on each piece for the same amount of time then wipe it off. The stain will soak in over time so the longer you leave it, the darker it gets, to a point. So try to be consistent as you can. You can always stain a piece more than once and often that is desired to get the look you want.
I would practice on the back of your doors first and make sure you can get them all to match and at a color you like. If you don't want a lot of grain in your finish, put a light seal coat on first, stain then seal again.