Wood finishing

2/19/2012 at 11:31:05 AM

Hi Amy, Sounds like a fun project!

Stain should not feel sticky after 4 days. If it does, you may have put on too much, or not sanded down to bare wood and it is not soaking in as it should. In general, stain should be applied and then the excess wiped off after about 5 or 10 minutes. This is usually enough time for it to penetrate the wood. If you want it a little darker, you do another coat after it dries and follow the same procedures. If you have done it properly, you should still be able to see the grain of the wood. There is no need to sand or steel wool before the finish.

Since you used an oil based stain, you should use an oil based finish. It is sometimes easier to use a spray can for a chair to ensure you get into all of the little nooks and crannies. This should be done outside or at least in your garage. I would put on 2 coats and then a very light sanding with 400 or 600 wet/ dry sandpaper. The objective is to just remove any roughness and make the final coat as smooth as possible. You don't want to remove any finish, just smooth out the nibs and bumps, so be careful at the edges and corners. Apply your final coat, wait 24 hours, and enjoy your chair!

All of these types of products come with pretty good instructions and if you follow them, you can get a really good finished project.

Good Luck with it!

Jim Kuzma

Kettleby Handyman Services

2/19/2012 at 11:43:33 PM

Thanks for your advise Jim!

But what should I do now?? Should I sanding down again a stain?? I used a pre-stain product (Home Depot) suggested to have a better coverege. Maybe that caused a porblem?

So I don't know what to do....

2/20/2012 at 5:46:49 PM

There are a lot of possible causes. However I would suggest starting from scratch. Sand the chair down to bare wood. Make sure the original finish is gone completely. Finish sanding with 150 grit. Take a damp cloth and wipe down the entire chair. This raises the grain and allows the stain to penetrate evenly. You don't want it dripping, but should feel and look damp. Then apply your stain over the entire chair. Don't be stingy you want it to stay wet until you have covered the entire chair. By the time you have covered everything you can take a clean rag and lightly wipe the stain off from were you started. Let it dry 1-2 days.

For an easy top coat wipe on poly works great, you have no brush strokes, it just takes a lot more thin coats. It doesn't go on thick and more thin coats are better than thick ones. If after 2 or 3 coats of the wipe on poly, it feels rough, then you can lighty sand with 220 or steel wool. Then more coats of the poly to finish.