Continued from UnfinishedFurniture page 1
Stain density of color can be determined by the amount of sanding and the grit of sandpaper. If you cut a board into three pieces and sand one with 240 grit sandpaper, one with 320 grit sandpaper and one with 400 grit sandpaper, then stain them with stain out of the same can they will be different density of color, the one sanded with 400 grit sandpaper will be much lighter than the one sanded with 240 grit sandpaper. As you use progressively finer grit sandpaper there are fewer wood fibers available for stain to be absorbed into. The stain also soaks into the wood, depending on the hardness or softness of the wood.
It's best to practice on a piece of scrap wood of the same type as what your unfinished furniture is made of so you can tell what the exact end color will be.
Somewhere along the way someone has come up with the notion that you should seal the wood before you stain. If you want to save yourself some disappointment, don't seal before you stain. If you seal the wood before you stain, then there is nothing for the stain to soak into and you end up with a smeary unstained appearance.
Sealing after staining is a very good idea, some stains will bleed through a finish giving an undesirable appearance and it is a good idea to seal them in. Besides, using a sanding sealer, you can sand it with a very fine sandpaper to give a very good, very smooth surface to apply the final finish to.
Be sure that you use a sanding sealer compatible with your stain and with the final finish product.
See Staining Wood for information on staining. Return to this page by using your browsers back button or use the Unfinished Furniture link in the Navigation Bar.
See Final Finish for information on the final finish. Return to this page by using your browsers back button or use the Unfinished Furniture link in the Navigation Bar.
Skip the staining step, but do use the sanding sealer step in order to get the smoothest final finish possible. See Final Finish for more information.
If you plan to paint unfinished furniture it's a good idea to go through all the steps as though you were going to put a clear finish on it, up to and including the sanding sealer. You can get a lot smoother paint job if you seal and sand the sealer before you paint.
For the final paint finish either use spray cans of paint or brush on.
Paint will soak into wood and can take several coats more of primer and a lot more work to get a satisfactory painted finish without sealing the wood before painting.
Some day you may decide to sell your painted piece of furniture, or pass it on to someone else who might want a stained finish and they will definitely bless you when they start stripping and discover that you sealed the wood before you painted. Who knows, you may decide to strip the paint yourself, then you'll get a double blessing.
Enjoy your newly stained and finished, or painted unfinished furniture.
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