# Staining Pine Leaves Grey Spots



## mhossey (Jul 4, 2017)

Hey everyone, this is my first post and my first project.

I bought some #2 pine to make shelves for a closet and ended up with some pretty bad results. I have a number of grey spots on each board and I'm pretty disappointed with it. Is there something I can do different to avoid this, or a mistake I made? Below is the process I used for staining:

1.) Sand wood at 150 grit

2.) Pre stain wood

3.) Stain with Watco Dark Walnut, wait 30 min re-apply stain (per directions on can)

4.) Sit 24 hours

5.) Sand with 220 grit

6.) Apply stain again

I plan to use a minwax spray lacquer for the finish.


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## mhossey (Jul 4, 2017)

Maybe these pics will show up in the thread.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

You used the wrong products. The gray will go away when lacquered but Watco is formulated to be penetrating. This counteracts the wood conditioner. A wood conditioner is a sealer which the soft parts of the wood drink up more so when you stain the stain goes on more uniform. The gray spots are just the soft spots of the wood that have absorbed too much of the watco. They will just finish darker than the rest of the board but will look more normal. It may take extra coats of lacquer on these spots as the soft wood is going to drink up the lacquer too. You would have had a more uniform color had you used a wood stain instead of the Watco finish. Watco is really intended to be a finish itself without having lacquer over the top.


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## mhossey (Jul 4, 2017)

Steve Neul said:


> You used the wrong products. The gray will go away when lacquered but Watco is formulated to be penetrating. This counteracts the wood conditioner. A wood conditioner is a sealer which the soft parts of the wood drink up more so when you stain the stain goes on more uniform. The gray spots are just the soft spots of the wood that have absorbed too much of the watco. They will just finish darker than the rest of the board but will look more normal. It may take extra coats of lacquer on these spots as the soft wood is going to drink up the lacquer too. You would have had a more uniform color had you used a wood stain instead of the Watco finish. Watco is really intended to be a finish itself without having lacquer over the top.


That makes sense, thanks for the quick reply. I didn't realize they would counteract each other like that - this is what I get for watching a wide variety of youtube videos in one setting. 

In your opinion would you get the same(ish) results if I used only the watco finish by itself, rather than going through the trouble of pre-stain and stain? It's not really that much more work, but curious.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

mhossey said:


> That makes sense, thanks for the quick reply. I didn't realize they would counteract each other like that - this is what I get for watching a wide variety of youtube videos in one setting.
> 
> In your opinion would you get the same(ish) results if I used only the watco finish by itself, rather than going through the trouble of pre-stain and stain? It's not really that much more work, but curious.


If you keep using pigminted Watco the color is going to get darker and darker. If you choose to use that finish I would use a clear Watco for the rest of it. Personally I don't care for Watco finish on anything but Walnut. Even then you have to sand the wood to such a fine grit to make the finish look good I just don't use it. 

Maybe counteract was the wrong term. The Watco finish is designed to be very penetrating so it got through the wood conditioner and made the wood blotchy. A wood stain would have laid more on the surface so it would have been less likely to make those spots go dark.


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## mhossey (Jul 4, 2017)

I sprayed my first coat of lacquer on (minwax aerosol) and the end result was a lot of nibs and build-up. It was humid and around 90 outside when I did this so maybe that caused it? I may have held the can too far away as well.

Curious as to what some of you use? Since I don't have a garage or workshed I do everything on my deck; It's been rainy the past week and more rain is in the forecast. Thinking about sanding the lacquer off and using a waterbased polyacrylic that I can brush/roll on - maybe I could do this in my spare bedroom with good ventilation...I read that it's low odor. I've been so focused on the build that I didn't put much thought into the finish. I want to get this project done quick since it won't be visible that often (closet shelves).

Whats the quickest, most inexpensive way you would recommend doing this, keeping in mind I don't have large workspaces. 

PS. Also read shellac may be a good option if you're not exposing the wood to heat.


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