Stain question: slightly off topic

hoooptydooo wrote: (clip)I only had some pine laying around so I made it out of that. I figured I'd try to stain it with minwax walnut stain(clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^ Someone may enlighten me, but as far as I know there is no way to stain pine to make it look like walnut. Walnut grain has a richness that is missing from pine. You might as well try staining a blotter.

In colonial America, they faux painted lesser woods to look like more desirable woods. Pine is pine. There is a pre treatment that you can put on that controls the depth that the stain can attain thus creating a more even coloring.

Gene

Yes, many beautiful mansions around the Nashville area, like Bell Meade are tulip poplar painted in this way.

Derek

That's what I was wondering. I know I can't make walnut look like pine. I just figured there had to be a way to make it stain more even. I tried multiple coats and it looked great on the last coat until I wiped off the excess. It seems like you reach a point where the wood just won't take anymore stain. I also didn't have this when I made a shelf out of pine in the past and used cherry stain. The cherry stain seemed to stain more even. That's why I was wondering if I should be doing something different with the walnut stain. What is the pre treatment chemical called?

Mike

hoooptydooo wrote: (clip) I know I can't make walnut look like pine. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Well! That's a whole 'nother thing.