Strip Away Anguish of Staining Furniture

If you’ve ever tried refinishing a piece of furniture, you already know what the worst part of the job is. It’s not the noxious fumes of the stripping chemicals, not scraping your fingers on sandpaper, but the mental anguish of selecting the right stain.

Next time you’re at the hardware store, take a look at the poor souls standing around the wood stain cans and studying the color charts, trying to decide which color matches the shade they want.

But with a little know-how, you can select the best stain for the job and apply it correctly.

The key to a great staining job is in the preparation of the surface.

“The mistakes a lot of people blame on the stain actually occur during stripping and gluing,” said Chris Maciel of Old Way Furniture Stripping Refinishing & Repair in Brea. “In repairing a piece of furniture, they use too much glue, which ends up not making a great repair, and which keeps a good stain from being applied.”

Glue marks usually look white after staining, which is why it’s important to keep them from occurring. Maciel recommends using just enough glue to get the job done.

“You need to have the wood fibers come together, which doesn’t happen when you use gobs of glue,” Maciel said. “Use a little glue, then wipe the excess off with a damp cloth.”

Another common mistake is taking a break during the middle of the job, causing the old finish to congeal and harden before being wiped away.

“Once the old finish and stain dry after being loosened, they become like cement,” Maciel said. “It becomes almost impossible to get off. We get a lot of people who need us to strip furniture that someone has only done halfway.”

Although you may think you’ll have to scrub the old finish away after stripping with sandpaper, it may not be necessary.

“One of the biggest problems I see are pieces of furniture that have been sanded with a grit that’s too coarse,” said Bob Espeland of Espeland Furniture Repair & Antique Restoration in Orange. “After it’s been stripped, use a light, No. 100 grit and go over it carefully.”

Maciel said, “Let the stripper do the work for you. After you do a good stripping job, you shouldn’t have to do much sanding. If you do sand, make sure you do a consistent job with the same amount of pressure applied everywhere on the piece. If one area gets sanded too much, you’ll notice a difference in the color when you stain it.”

When shopping for a stain, you’ll see two main types. Penetrating stains are absorbed into the wood and highlight its natural grain. Pigmented stains work well on furniture that doesn’t have an outstanding grain, since it highlights the shade you’re trying to get.

You can also use a staining oil, which gives the wood a more natural look.

“I always recommend oil stains,” Espeland said. “They’re simple to use and ideal for most applications.”

The oil is spread over the wood and wiped off with the grain using a clean, lint-free cloth.

“After it’s dry, put a lacquer sealer on it to keep the color,” Espeland said.

“Watco makes an oil finish that doesn’t necessarily need a finish coat,” said Tim Wiles of Decratrend Paints in Cypress. “To make it impervious to water, you can apply a satin wax or one of the new, wipe-on polyurethane finishes.”

A stain gaining in popularity is the white wash, which puts a pale sheen over the wood and is popular in Southwestern-style furniture.

“It’s applied just like any other stain with a brush or clean cloth,” Wiles said. “If you let it sit longer on the wood before wiping it off, the effect is more dramatic.”

Since the white wash produces a very light effect, defects in the wood’s finish can be seen more clearly.

“You tend to see more of the grain and joints,” Wiles said. “So if you have a piece where you want to hide some of these, you may have to consider a different stain.”

You can also get a custom white wash stain to match the decor of your home.

“Many paint and stain stores will mix in a pigment to give the stain a cast of green, pink or whatever color you choose,” Wiles said. “This works especially well when you’re staining a lighter wood like pine.”

Selecting the right color stain requires some thought.

“Never pick a stain just from the sample you see at the store,” Maciel said. “As a rule, the stains you see on the samples will be darker on the project you’re working on.”

And Wiles said, “Many samples will show how the stains look on some popular woods, like pine or oak, which gives you a better idea of what it will look like on your project.”

Because of air pollution regulations in Southern California, many oil-based stains aren’t available to the amateur woodworker. They’ve been replaced by water-based stains that get good reviews from professionals; however, you may want to practice using them on scrap wood before tackling an antique.

“‘You have to work very quickly with water-based stains, quick on, quick off,” Maciel said. “If you don’t, you can end up with blotchy areas where the color is darker or lighter.”

Before you start your refinishing project, the experts recommend that you do some planning.

“We get a lot of jobs that people couldn’t finish themselves,” Espeland said. “Be patient, take your time and know what you’re doing and why, then you’re ready to do a good refinishing job.”