re-staining pine

[laynlo]

hey ya all, i got a low line tv unit which is made out of pine and is stained a light to medium darkness stain... this is brand new and been sitting in my shed for 2 years. now instead of the hassle of selling it and buying a new one i am wanting to re stain it to match all our other furniture.
is this possible to do?
i am wating to go a very dark choclate stain!

any help appreciated.

cheers
Tim

[Jedo_03]

I'm not a finishing guru...
But more info would be useful...
1) what sort of stain in on the table - water\spirit...
2) what sort of finish is over the stain - shellac, poly, wax...

You'd have to remove ALL the finish before applying more stain - and make a good job of it...
You'd have to apply a similar stain to the existing stain...

and this post might be better in the "finishing" forum...
Cheers
Jedo

[Different]

I am not a fan of staining for any reason but especially to match other timber furniture.
It is almost impossible for timber tones to clash even sitting next to each other with the possible exception of some exotic timbers like Rengas, Purpleheart and Lignum Vite.
The school of thought that says that timber furniture needs to be from the same species or stained to match is simply wrong and has left us the unfortunate legacy of whole houses furnished with just one timber like Oak or Teak.

Ross

[Harry72]

Restaining to a different/matching colour is fraught with problems, 1st is getting an actual colour match 2nd is applying it to an assembled cabinet... its a PITA to stain into corners without tell tail signs.
Is all your other furniture pine?
Like Jedo said you will need to identify what the stain type and brand that is used on the other furniture. Look for a brand stamp it may help chase down the makers.

[IanW]

It's my understanding that most mass-manufactured pine stuff isn't 'stained' at all - the colour is all in the finish, which is why any scuff leaves a nasty scar. Pine is not an easy wood to stain, particularly the crapiata family, with its almost impervious latewood rings, but even the more porous earlywood usually goes all blotchy at the merest hint of contact with stains, so on a production line they avoid the hassles by adding the desired colour to the clear finish.

Like many (most?) I hate stains - they and I just don't get along with each other. Dyes are a lot easier (and more subtle) on the right woods, but pine isn't one of them, in my experience. So if you're a dab hand with the spraygun, add a dash of the right colour to some clear finish and go at it.

I reckon 'Different's' advice is sound - convince the other half that some variation in the furniture is desirable......

Unfortunately, I know how successful THAT can be.

Avagoodone,

[munruben]

No matter what,you must get rid of the finish on it at the moment before attempting any staining otherwise it will be a mess.

[TEEJAY]

If you are interested in a very dark coffee colour you could always sand your piece back to raw timber and dye it then put a shellac over - it's pretty easy. https://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=52681

Of course the amount of dark is dependant upon how many coats you apply.

[Harry72]

Staining radiata pine is easy its all in the sanding... if its not even the stain will blotch if you use filler and not cover the whole area... it will absorb stain at a different rate to the bare wood, endgrain must be sanded to the next grit. Another thing I've found is dont finish with a hand plane always sandpaper.

IanW, most mass manufactured pine furniture is sprayed with stain then evened out with a rag if using turps based stain and just sprayed if using spirits based. The stain only seeps in about .5mm sanded to 180grit(turps based).

[IanW]

IanW, most mass manufactured pine furniture is sprayed with stain then evened out with a rag if using turps based stain and just sprayed if using spirits based. The stain only seeps in about .5mm sanded to 180grit(turps based).

Hi Harry, thanks for that clarification. I read an article in either FWW or another mag that said most big manufacturers using pine, spray coloured varnish and skip a separate staining step altogether, both for speed and to avoid the blotching problems. I still don't understand how you slove the problem with the latewood rings in crapiata, which absorb virtually no stain (they will take up some dyes a bit better). Either way, the result is almost no penetration of the wood, as you say, and very visible scars when the surface finish is damaged (personal experience!).

You must use a better grade of pine form anything I've ever tried staining, as I've never been able to get satisfactory results. I need a few lessons.

Cheers,

[Harry72]

The rings, you will never get them too the same colour because they are a different colour to start with... if you did it would not look like wood!
I dont stain crapiarta to look like other woods you cant, it will always look like pine to the woodworkers eye!
I stain to achieve a colour only, search the picture forum here with my name and you'll see some stained pine that came up quite well and some thats so so, 99% of my work is heavily stained so I've had a bit of practice now!
I should do a write up on staining crapiarta dark colours with turps based stains, might help a few 1st timers, its a common newby question here.

[echnidna]

I should do a write up on staining crapiarta dark colours with turps based stains, might help a few 1st timers, its a common newby question here.

Great Idea

[IanW]

The rings, you will never get them too the same colour because they are a different colour to start with... if you did it would not look like wood!

True, Harry - I'm not trying to make wood look like plastic, but I suppose my problem is I'm trying to make it look not like stained wood, either! I don't use much pine, anyway, so it's not a big issue for me. I really only use colourants when it's absolutely necessary (read demanded by the 'client') to soften stark differences between pieces in a glued-up panel - no matter how carefully I choose, I often end up with a piece that stays light, while the bit beside it that was exactly the same shade at glue-up goes 3 or 4 shades darker.

F'rinstance - I felt it necessary to blend the two bits on the side of this cedar chiffonier, or the join would have stuck out severely. On the front, I was able to keep the pieces closer, and at least they were symmetrical. The paler parts are much more obvious to the camera, and the colours have mellowed out quite ok in the 3 years since it was finished (which was when the pic was taken), so I'm glad I didn't fiddle with the front pieces - the side looks fine, too, so it was a reasonably successful job.

In 99% of cases, I'd much prefer to stay away from any stains/colourants altogether....

[Harry72]

Thats a nice looking cabinet, quality work!

I havent had to stain any hardwood so far, but will hit that hurdle some day.
With the crapiarta I dont bother trying to hide joins in panels as it has to many features/nastys to try and match up, plus the extra time it would take the customer wouldnt want to pay for!