Struggling to finish pine scaffold boards nicely (dye, stain etc.)

delmonta

Hi
I've made a desk, coffee table and shelves out of new kiln dried scaffold boards. I planed them down and sanded from 80 to 320, so they are extremely smooth. I do not like the very light and yellow look of pine, and wanted to darken them to something more like oak. I so far have tried Liberon Light Oak dyes, the water based one (horrible and green) and the spirit based one, which was ok in colour. But the main issue has been blotchiness and still looking too yellow. 

I've read a lot, and in the US they seem to use a pre stain conditioner, but here most people say use a sanding sealer. So I tried with sanding sealer, letting it dry and then applying the dye, using the dye straight after the sealer, rubbing down the sealer with 320 then dying, and without any sealer. I'm not really happy with any of it! it still comes out more blotchy than I'd like

Am I missing something? is there a way to darken pine nicely? Maybe I need to try a a different brand, but its getting expensive! Water or spirit based? Any recommendations? I wonder if its because I'm not using a dark enough dye, and therefore imperfections are more obvious

Any advice would be great

rob7475

Have you tried Osmo oil? You can usually get small sample sachets to test it out. Although not as durable, I like a wax finish. I can recommend Fiddes supreme wax polish. It applies easily and gives a good finish.

I'm not sure if  you could be oversanding. 320 seems a bit too fine for an oil / varnish finish but I'm no expert so could be wrong. I've never gone finer than 180.

Mistral001

My thoughts is that a stain's primary function is to bring out the grain of the wood.   Pine already has a very distinct grain and might even need something to tone it down.

delmonta

rob7475 said:

Have you tried Osmo oil? You can usually get small sample sachets to test it out. Although not as durable, I like a wax finish. I can recommend Fiddes supreme wax polish. It applies easily and gives a good finish.

I'm not sure if  you could be oversanding. 320 seems a bit too fine for an oil / varnish finish but I'm no expert so could be wrong. I've never gone finer than 180.

thanks Osmo oil actually looks pretty good, the tinted ones. I'm a bit confused by all their products, but this seems like it could be good : https://osmouk.com/product/polyx-oil-tints/

yeah I'm not sure about the sanding, I guess I could go back and rough it all up!