Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - staining unpainted decorative molding

I tried to stain 8 ft pieces of decorateive molding. The pattern is embossed leaves. I believe this is hardwood (directions on container said if your fingernail doesn't leave a mark in the wood, you don't have to use the wood conditioner). I purchased this at Lowes. It looks terrible. I sanded it, and used product that is a stain and oil all in one by Minwax. Put this on with a staining pad.
The stain is uneven--looks black in spots and light in other
spots.

Is there anyway to take this off and start over again, or purchase new wood?

Either way, can you give me some tips on staining embossed unfinished wood? What products should I use?

Thanks for all the help.

PS What do you think of the polyshades with stain and poly combined? I have a feeling one-step products are not very good.



Thank you. Kathy

Kathy:

Last item first. I worked for several years in a building supply that sold polyshades. I always tried to talk customers out of it by pointing out the obvious; you're trying to control finish and color at the same time. The brush marks you leave in the finish may not be very noticable, but brushmarks in color (variations from light to dark) stand out like a neon sign.

Now to your present problem. Deco moulding of the type you describe is usually quite expensive - $4.00 a foot and up. If that's the case in your instance, you might want to try to save it. Bleach it out using a 2 part bleach. It's two separate containers that are combined for use and form a very strong oxidizing agen. It will remove most, if not all, the color. Sanding should be a last resort - you're taking a chance on destroying the detail that you bought the moulding for in the first place.

Now for the finish/color. If Polyshades is available in an aerosole form, that is what you should use. Spraying lets you get an even coat of both finish and color, plus you can control the degree of color.

Embossed wood will absorb stain more easily where the wood has been indented the most - in the bottom details of the 'carvings'. This is where the wood fibers have been actually broken instead of compressed.

If you can't find poly as above, a washcoat of shellac should be applied before staining, or you can use the wood conditioner the mfg said wasn't necessary. Either one will help even the stain absorption to a degree. Be aware, however, that the deep areas will still be darker than everything else - probably not to as great a degree, but they will be darker.

Thanks for the help. You said bleach it out using 2 part bleach. I don't understand. Is this clorox bleach?

I'll try going to unpainted furniture store for supplies.
Maybe they have the spray. Probably should have tried them in the first place.

George, I checked back and read other posts about the 2 part bleach-It's something I buy at the hardware store.

Is this all I should do to remove the poly coat, or do I need to apply some other product first?

Thank you.

Kathy:

Sory about the delay in responding - my pc has been giving me trouble.

The poly must be removed - the bleach acts on bare wood. Any good tripper will do the job.

Thank you George. Thought maybe you took Labor-day vacation. I finally found the wood bleach by Parks. It comes with 2 bottles. Bottle A goes on and
then Bottle B. The directions also said to strip off finish, which I did.

I stripped, applied the bleach and left it on overnight. I cleaned the wood according to the directions on the package. I bought the aerosole stain spray. I used the wood conditioner, followed with the spray stain which was too light. Then I used a sponge to apply a slightly darker liquid stain, which I left on for 5 minutes and removed the excess.

Working with darker stain is difficult because it's hard to
get the color even on embossed molding. It still has dark and light spots. Some even look black. Since it will be above cabinets in kitchen, I don't think the uneven color will be so bad.

I've refinished tables, beds,chests etc. and I am always pleased with the results. If anyone wants to stain the decorative molding,(the kind from Lowes with carved leaves, flowers, etc.) I would go with a light color stain, or a very dark color. The medium-color stains (I was using a brown shade called Provincal(might be spelled incorrectly) by Minwax) are difficult. Then again, maybe the wood doesn't take stain (although they have pictures in Lowes showing the stuff stained).
The spray stain is the best option. The gel stains are the worst for this type of molding.

I read another thread from a lady that had problems with the molding. She painted leaves green and when she put the clear coat on, the green bled to other parts. (Lowes features the molding painted this way on their display). Too bad they can't tell consumers how they did it.

I wish the manufacturers of the decorative wood molding would offer tips on how to properly stain their products.

I am going to write to the manufacturer.
I'll post a message once I receive their reply.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me. I have to say
that doityourself.com is my favorite website.

Kathy:

Glad you got it worked out - I'll be waiting to hear what the manufacturer has to say.

For everyone else:

Satining molding can present special problems, as illustrated by Kathy. The type of molding makes a big difference in your approach for a successful job. If you're dealing with 'standard' modling, that is CUT by shaper blades, you'll get a fairly uniform color with almost any type of stain you use.

Decorative molding, however, is an equine of an entirely different hue. Most of these moldings have a pattern embossed in them. The wood is not cut, but stamped by a die and compressed. The deep details of the pattern will absorb stain much more readily than the 'unpressed' parts. Even a wood conditioner will not overcome the variance.

The best approach for this type of molding is what refinishers call a 'toner'. It's a combination of finish and color (stain) that's sprayed on. This allows much greater control of color depth, as well as uniformity. A clear coat of the same finish should be applied FIRST, in order to seal the wood and assure color uniformity when the toner is applied.

George, I received a reply from manufacturer--what a joke. They didn't send a letter saying they were sorry for the problems--nothing. They sent me a photocopy of an article from Popular Woodworking from the May 1998 edition. The article was written by Steve Shanesy. It's called "The Ten Commandments of Finishing."

The article indicates that most all softwoods blotch especially pine, spruce, firs, cedar and the hardwoods that blotch are poplar, cherry birch, maple and alder.

The article also tells you how to mix your own wood conditioner--3 parts paint thinner 2 parts boiled linseed oil, and 1 part VMP naphtha.

It goes into detail about how to avoid blotching and splotching. If you are interested, I'll send you a copy. Just tell me where to mail it.

Again, thanks for all your help.

Kathy D.