White Oak Porosity, Stain Saturation Differences

14 years ago

It's been awhile since I've stained.

And I'm aware of all the issues.....making sure grit level is the same across all wood, minimal putty (keeping it on the hole) and try not get them into the pores of wood, etc.

Fast forward. Picked up 3 colors of stain. Just wiped them onto fresh white oak flooring I had laying around (same flooring I used on the landing of the stairs).

White quartersawn oak.

I'm getting about 2 shades deeper on the entire stair/landing as opposed to my test sample in which I just wiped color onto the wood flooring piece.

White oak is fairly porus in itself.

Is it due to the sanding of the finished piece...that it's more porus than the stock raw wood - hence the darker color. We'll see if she lightens up as she dries

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Comments (4)

sombreuil_mongrel
14 years ago
If you want a lighter color with the same stain you must sand to a finer grit, like 150. Coarser paper leaves more torn wood fibers, which are like sponges for pigments.
Casey
User
14 years ago
Flooring was run through a planer to make it flat and the right thickness. The top layer has been burnished by passing through the planer.

That surface doesn't take stain the way a sanded piece of the same batch of flooring would - it's a lot lighter.

Always treat the test sample EXACTLY the way you plan to treat the piece hyou are staining.
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a1an
Original Author
14 years ago
Eeeks. I do plan to take a lil steel wool to it on the 1st coat. Hopefully it will remove some of the pigment away
bobismyuncle
14 years ago
Don't use steel wool!

Tannins in oak react with iron in steel wool (when exposed to moisture) and you can end up with thousands of little black spots that you'll have to strip and bleach out with oxalic acid.

Use non-woven abrasive like Norton's or Scotch-Brite if you need to rub with something like steel woo.