# Pine wont take stain



## sawblade54 (May 5, 2015)

Hello
I bought some select grade pine the other day and wanted to try a few stains to decide which one I liked best.
The boards don't seem to want to soak in any stain. (tried Gel Stain Also) I then let it set for 5 min with no luck, and then tried a wood conditioner.
I'm at a loss............


----------



## John Smith_inFL (Jul 4, 2018)

so, you bought some boards . . . . 
are they the generic "select" pine from the Big Box Store ??
are they smooth and shiny ??
did you sand them first ?
if you did not sand them, they "may" have the thickness planer
compression finish that closes the pores of the wood which makes it
difficult to accept a uniform finish.
sand thoroughly and see if that makes a difference.

.

.


----------



## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Some pine has a lot of pitch in it which can interfere with the stain penetrating. Did you sand the wood before you tried to stain it? Sanding will usually help the stain penetrate. Sometimes also if you sand the wood to a too fine a grit it can get difficult to get the wood to stain as dark as you like. The pitch in the wood tends to get rubbed into the pores of the wood with the finer grit papers partially sealing it. It also helps prevent the stain from going blotchy as much. 

A wood conditioner will make the wood difficult to accept stain. It's like a thin varnish. The surface of pine wood varies in density. There are hard and soft places which the soft places accept much more stain causing the wood to stain darker there and looks blotchy. The wood soaks up more wood conditioner in the soft places so it makes the surface more uniform so when you apply the stain it will color the wood more uniform. Since it partially seals the wood you would have to use a darker stain than you would use without the conditioner. On dark colors it would probably be necessary to also use a dye stain to suppliant the color. A dye stain is more similar to ink so you can add as many coats as you wish without it interfering with the adhesion.


----------



## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

I've never seen pine "take" stain well, even sanded. I'd color the wood with a dye, preferably a water based aniline dye. I'd also think about a tinted topcoat sprayed on, like a factory finish, to get a dark color. I once did a ready-to-finish hutch base that was made of pine and was to be colored a Jacobean (very dark) brown. I had to spray the oil based stain on and since it was so thick on the surface, you could not brush a top coat on without it dissolving the stain, I had to spray the varnish topcoats on too. I think that was the last pine piece I have done. Our new home has pine six panel doors and trim and it's all finished with tinted sprayed on finish.


----------



## sawblade54 (May 5, 2015)

It felt soooo smooth that I didnt think it was necessary to sand it... I will give it a shot... and thanks


----------

