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Why does my stained trim look blochy?

16 years ago

I installed new trim and interior doors in my house. The trim is pine. I am using a redish brown stain which I have mixed 2 stains together trying to match the rest of my house. In my foir I didnt like the end result of a few pieces of trim that I already installed and stained. They look blochy and the trim is a little lighter then what the door is. This really bugs me so I just bought more trim and just stained it. It again looks blochy. I have stained many things in the past so I am not new to it. What can I do?

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Comments (6)

allison1888
16 years ago
It could be the fact that you're using pine. It's a soft wood and may be absorbing the stain differently than say an oak will. Or, maybe the stain had settled and wasn't stirred enough. I would take it into a paint store with the wood -- plus some you haven't stained yet -- and get their opinion.
birkie_2006
16 years ago
Pine doesn't take stain evenly, but using a wood conditioner on it before you stain really helps. Your brand of stain should also have wood conditioner in their line, you just paint it on right before you stain.
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moonshadow
16 years ago
Ditto the wood conditioner before staining with pine.
moonshadow
16 years ago
that should read 'before staining "the" pine'
sheesh
blue_fastback
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the advise. I did buy some wood conditioner at HD. I will try sanding off the stain and give it another try. What gets me is I have stained all my windows,crown moulding, base and door casing in the past and NEVER had a problem with this blotchyness.

Thanks
Michael
16 years ago
We quit using pine a few years ago and switched to poplar. Poplar is easy to stain and has a much nicer grain than the fast grown pine of today, and it's less expensive!

Choose clear poplar for stain, regular poplar for paint.

Michael

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