So, I just wanted to bring up my thoughts on using stains for your woodwork and how to make better decisions based on them.

First thing I like to remind people about is that stains are NOT sealers. You won’t get water proof material if you just apply a stain.

Moving on. So this is my tip! Make several swatches! Seems so silly, but if you are working with multiple different woods, and/or stains, they are all going to interact differently.

I personally use the Varathane stains sold by Home Depot. Why? It’s no magical answer… Home Depot is one of the closest stores to me. And I like orange.

What you see above is just an example of four stains I was looking at for a project on Red Oak (the wood behind the arrow). I also wanted totest out the Pre-Conditioner. Those four slats actually are 8 different applications. Each one is treated on the upper side with the preconditioner. I will say the jury is still out on if I will continue to use that.

As I build my “wood pallet” I just keep making more of the swatches so I will have a better idea what an end product will look like. This saves SO much heartache at the end by preventing a horrible stain on an otherwise amazing project!

Wear your gloves (or stay stained) my friends and have a good one,

Royce

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#varathene #homedepot #stains makersgonnamake #makersmovement #makers #dyination