Shellac first for even stain?

**Dengue** · 9th April 2018, 11:26 AM

Hello, I intend staining a piece of open grain timber with Wattyl spirit based stain, and not too sure if it will result in a smooth even finish. Tried testing on a radiata pine board, and that was blotchy in places.
Is pre-coating (and then sanding off) with a 1:10 diluted shellac:metho recommended first to make the stain uniform?

**Xanthorrhoeas** · 9th April 2018, 12:20 PM

Hi Dengue,

Unfortunately you chose one of the worst possible timbers to "test" your technique. Radiata and slash pine - as well as many other conifer species - contain a lot of resin and that rejects the stain, leading to blotchiness and a nasty effect. What is the open grain timber that you wish to stain? I have used the Wattyl spirit stains extensively and rarely get any problems except with conifers and other timbers with oils, resin or kino. For example, staining NSW Rosewood can be a challenge because it is very oily, but I have stained up new Australian Cedar (very light pink wood in that case) to match darker antique cedar using a combination of the Wattyl stains.
David

**Dengue** · 9th April 2018, 04:58 PM

Thanks David, I have a couple of boards of fig tree from up Cardwell way after cyclone Yasi hit years ago.

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