With Tips on Avoiding Tackiness & Fixes if Your Wood is Tacky
How do you feel when you make a mistake? Do you hate making them? I will be honest with you the thought of making a mistake kinda makes me cringe. I pretty much want to do everything possible to avoid making one. But after making quite a few of them, I have come to see the really valuable lessons we can learn from making them.
Not too long ago I decided I wanted to stain the top of my coffee table. I didn’t have much experience with stain but I was willing to give it a try. So I jumped in with both feet. Unfortunately, I didn’t even pause long enough to read the directions? Oops!
Not reading the directions was my first mistake. And I would make a few more before my project was done. I felt really dumb afterwards realizing that a lot of my issues could have been avoided. But I learned a ton about staining through the process.
So the good news is now I have an awesome post for you on what not to do when you are staining a piece of furniture! Along with tips for making staining so much easier for you.
Mistake 1. Not taking the time to prepare the wood.
The first step in many diy projects is the one I am most often wanting to skip. But most of time it ends up being most important. Cleaning your wood is the first step. Remove any dirt or grime.
Sand the Wood- Next you will need to get the surface back to the raw wood so the stain will seep into the wood. Use a 120 grit sandpaper and a hand sander. Sand the wood until your are back to the raw wood. Always sanding in the direction of the wood grain.
If any old stain or paint is left on your wood the stain will not be absorbed properly. You will have a tacky surface after the stain is applied, like I did. So it is totally worth putting in a little extra effort up front rather than trying to correct your mistake later.
Clean off the Sanding Residue- It will be pretty clear after you have sanded that you will want to wipe down your wood again. So wipe it down and get ready to stain!
Mistake 2. Not using a wood conditioner.
So if you read the instructions on your can of stain, it may tell you to use a wood conditioner. And that would be good advice. With my coffee table I had difficulty with the stain being splotchy. But since I didn’t know much about stain and I didn’t read the directions. I missed the part on using a wood conditioner..
Wood conditioners help the wood to absorb the stain evenly. It will help you avoid having splotchy spots. This is especially important when working with softer woods like pine and maple.
Use a clean brush or extra rags around the house to apply the conditioner. Make sure to wipe off any excess. And similar to what you will see with the stain, do not let the conditioner dry on the surface of the wood. With most products you will want to wipe off the excess within 5-15 min of applying.
You will also want to apply your stain within the time-frame listed on your conditioner can. Usually it loses its effectiveness in even absorption after that window of time has passed. A lot of times its from 15 min after to within 2 hours.
Tip: if you are using an oil based stain be sure to use an oil-based wood conditioner. If it is water-based used a water based conditioner.
Mistake 3. Letting the stain dry on the surface.
Use a brush or cloth to apply stain to the surface of your project. Read the label on your can and make sure to wipe it off after 5-15 minutes. Do not let penetrating stain dry on the surface. Otherwise you will have a tacky mess on your hands like I did.
As I mentioned earlier. I made this mistake with one of my first staining projects. I did not read the instructions. So I made a massively incorrect assumption that stain acts like paint.
I lavishly applied the stain to the top of my table and then waited for it to dry. Well the bad news was it never dried. The surface of the table was super tacky. So you definitely need to wipe the excess stain off before it dries. Because I am telling you tackiness can be a real pain. But don’t make the next mistake too quickly.
Mistake 4. Giving up on a piece of furniture because the stain is tacky.
So what do you do if you accidentally plunged headlong into a can of stain, like me, and now you have a tacky surface? Well fortunately I didn’t make this mistake, but I was really close to bringing my table to Goodwill and having someone else deal with it.
But before you do that, here’s a couple of things you could try:
- Try adding additional stain on top of the surface that is tacky. Wait 5 min and then wipe off the extra stain. Hopefully you will get some of the tackiness along with it. Wait 24 hours for the surface to dry. If this works it is probably the easiest thing to do.
- Try re-sanding the surface down to the raw wood. If any stain or finish was left on the wood this could be the culprit. Once the tackiness is removed. Try adding more stain and rub off excess according to the instructions.
- If you have tried sanding down to the raw wood, re-applied your stain and it is still tacky. Or you are pretty sure you sanded well initially and removed all the excess stain. Consider this last idea. Leave the piece to set in a dry, room temperature space for several days. High humidity, hot and rainy weather can prevent the stain from drying completely.
This is actually what ended up happening with my table. I tried all the methods above and to no avail it was still so tacky. Goodwill was definitely becoming more of a reality.
Fortunately in frustration I left the piece alone for a few days. And guess what? When I came back to it, no tackiness. What the heck? Turns out the high humidity and rainy weather were preventing the piece from fully drying. Because once the temperature cooled down and the humidity went away. Voila! A beautifully stained table with no tackiness!
Mistake 5. Not paying attention to how the wood feels.
During this initial fail with stain. I ended up doing a lot of research. One of the most surprising things I learned was some of the drying times on the can are marketing more than anything else.
Companies will compete for the fastest drying product claim. Understandably, it is definitely more attractive to sell a fast drying product than one that takes hours to dry.
But the reality is sometimes it can take longer, or much longer in the case of my table, for the stain to completely dry. I have seen this with several other projects since learning this as well. So even though products claim a certain drying time. Pay attention to how the wood feels.
The ultimate test is that the wood should be dry to the touch. If you are not in a hurry, wait overnight. Just ensure the stain is dry completely before applying a second coat of stain or finish.
Mistake 6. Not using a spray finish.
One of the best discoveries with my coffee table experience was polyurethane spray! I had never tried the spray before this project. But I have used it on every project since. It is truly ahhhhamzing!
If you have ever worked with polyurethane you know how tricky it can be. Very! And it can take a very long time to dry. However spray polyurethane is very easy to use. Very fast drying. And gives you a really professional finish.
With my coffee table I was so ready to be done. I did not want to wait very long for the finish to dry. Luckily this time my impatience paid off and I found an incredible solution!
As with most finishing products still make sure the space you are working in is free from dust, debris and well ventilated. Dust, bugs or any other type of small debris will prevent you from having a nice clean finish.
So as you can see I learned a ton about stain from this one project that started with some BIG mistakes. Since it’s pretty much impossible to live life without making mistakes. We can either let them define us and try really hard to avoid them, or we can learn valuable lessons from them! How about we commit to learning from them together! Let me know what are your best tips for working with stain are below?
Have a wonderful day!
Elizabeth
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