Staining Birch

Question

I am trying to stain my birch table top and it is not looking good and the stain is very uneven. Any suggestions on how to fix this? I did sand and applied a pre stain before I used a oil base stain. See picture below this is how it is looking after two coats of stain and I am not sure if I can fix this problem.

Jill R. Wright · Answer

I don't have experience with staining birch in particular, but I've heard/read that it is one of the hardest woods to stain because it takes the stain unevenly:(

Jill R. Wright · Answer

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/tips-for-staining-birch-plywood#.U9q5O_ldW-0

The 2 Seasons · Answer

@Jill R. Wright Oh no I did not realize it but I now believe that is true.

Roger S · Answer

The 2 seasons In my experience I think that you would be better off using PolyShades® by MinWax to finish your table. this is not a stain and it works like a paint which you can use to change the finish color of wood while still seeing the wood grain. http://www.minwax.com/how-to-finish-wood/change-stain-color-with-polyshades/ go here to see how to do what you need to do. Good luck and have fun with it.

The 2 Seasons · Answer

@Roger S I will check this out it sounds just what I need since the birch is not doing well with the stain. I think I need to re sand the wood first. Thanks off to research!

Roger S · Answer

MinWax makes a cleaner that you might try to remove some of the old stain and then sand it back smooth before the PolyShades is used.

Moxie · Answer

a staining sealer would help; check out familyhandyman.com for some info...probably need to sand it down before you redo...

The 2 Seasons · Answer

Thank you everyone. I have been sanding today and 3 hours later one section of the table is back to the original wood. I plan to sand the other section tomorrow before really doing a pre stain sealer before moving to the next step.

Yvonne · Answer

@The 2 Seasons You need to use a water-base wood conditioner first. Let it dry then sand it. If you use water-base stain it'll dry faster and you can apply more coats sooner.

Nita O · Answer

Frankly this looks perfect to me.

Marion Nesbitt · Answer

Sometimes I play around with several dif colours of stain to get it to look more uniform. Probably if you go darker, the results might be better.

Lorei Millan · Answer

Please let me know what worked for you and show us a picture. Id love an update

Staining Birch

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Staining Birch

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