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Gosh I hope that makes sense. I have an open staircase that the has the outside stair wall in oak. Somebody at some time, did something and you can see it had water damage to it. I have read that I can sand down that area and re-stain, blending it into what's there. Meaning I don't have to strip down and re-stain the whole wall, or the whole section. The thing is, I sanded it down, you can tell and see that it's down to wood, yet the stain doesn't want to absorb. It's absorbing somewhat, but I'm on my 3rd coat and it's still not anywhere near the color it needs to be. The color is fruitwood, mixed with golden oak, brand Zar (I believe that's how it's spelled). I don't know what the final finish is and I don't remember ever hearing if there's a way to tell. Like with oil paint vs latex paint? If anybody has any tips or suggestions for me, please share them. This is getting quite frustrating!
The only things that come to mind right now are try a darker stain, or put it on as heavy as you can, and wipe it off a couple hours later...it's a little hard to picture without seeing. I hope you're having a great day, even if you're staining!
Mike
Thanks Mike for the Birthday wishes. My work is never done, some day, maybe I'll get a day off.
The picture below, is one I had taken before I did the sanding, and was taken so the lighting didn't show the water marks, or lack of stain and varnish, or whatever product they used. I put a circle around the area, and you can see some, but not to the extent of how bad it was. I have put the stain on thick, but only waited about 1/2 hour, it's like it's not absorbing at all. If tomorrow is as sunny as today was, I should be able to get a shot to show you what it looks like right now after I've tried fixing it. And no laughing at my goof!
I forgot to add, that my first try was using just straight fruitwood, since it matches perfectly other woodwork I've refinished in this same room. But on this wall, the fruitwood comes out brown with no golden in it. I really don't want to have to refinish the whole wall, but if I have to, then I guess I have to.
I wonder if cleaning it with TSP or something might help? I'm really stretching here, I can't think of why the stain wouldn't be sticking since you sanded off all the old finish.
I got a photo of what it looks like now. I went down to the Ace store and asked a guy who works there that's pretty good. He really seemed to think that although it was down to the wood, that somehow the finish was still there. I don't get it. I bought some Zar furnisher refinisher, but I'm just really afraid it's going to slop no matter how careful I am.
Ecrane, I have no idea if TSP would of worked before hand or not. I also wish I would of taken a photo of before I added stain, but after I'd sanded to show I was down to bare wood.
Do you know how some of this newer wood you buy, is so smooth and so shiny, it's like stain will not take to it? This is acting like that. But I didn't use fine sandpaper, I learned before that fine (like 220 grit) is just too fine and doesn't allow my piece to absorb the stain right.
Here's the picture. I've been doing this all along on this house, I've done it before on previous houses. It's not like I've never done this before, but this one has me stumped. I don't think on this one I need to draw a circle around it. It looks bad in the picture and it's looks worse in person.
Well, if the guy is right about the finish still being on there even though you've sanded, you could try using a chemical stripper just on a small section right around the damaged area, then try staining it again. You could also try the TSP first--it's just a cleaner so you could try cleaning that area and letting it dry, then try the stain again and see if it helps, and if it doesn't then go for the stripper.
Mix up the TSP and water and try cleaning over the top of what I've done, or sand it all down for the 2nd time? My problem with using any type of stripper, even this one I've got to only removed varnish and shellac, is if I get it on anything else. Gets on something below, then I have to redo it all. Bright side is if I have to redo it all, at least it will look good.
Was it just stain, or was it stain + polyurethane in one? If it was just stain, I think you could clean with the TSP without sanding but if it had polyurethane in it then that probably won't work.
No, it's just stain. I've only worked one time with the stain and poly (small job) and it was alright, but I really prefer doing the two steps. Using oil based stain and a water poly (for interior, exterior poly is oil based). My favorite poly being Polycrylic.
No, I haven't tackled it yet. I'm procrastinating on it. I got all the trim in that I'd ordered so I've been staining and polying that all up. Then Thanksgiving was going to be here and I didn't want the smell...now I've been decorating for Christmas. I need to get going on it, it bugs the you know what out of me. Oh, and we had this doorway upstairs. Didn't make any sense, it separated one bedroom from the other two and the bathroom. Plus it didn't have the original trim. Talked to my carpenter about it, told him about it bugging me, so he said remove it. So I got out the pry bar and ripped it all out. Best guess is that it was installed in the early 40's, due to lumber company stamped on the wood, and that the the bottom was actually on the wood floor. They didn't remove the baseboard, they simple put up studs and drywall over it. Plaster and original base are in good condition. Now it just looks so odd since that doorway was there since we've lived here. And by doorway, I mean they actually built a wall to install door jamb and door. The door and door stops were gone, but all the notches were in the jamb part. Any time you want to come up and help me pepper, you're more than welcome!
About an inch of ice with anywhere from 8in to over a foot of snow. I tried to measure here at home but it was different everywhere so 8-12+ is my official measurement. I am hoping to start snowball fights at work on Monday. lol. Been dreaming of this for months. lol
