finishing help

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I've got all the pieces ready to stain for a pair of bird feeders made from white oak. The finish is to be dark brown.

I was originally going to use minwax but it didn't seem to get dark enough so now I'm using a sherwin williams stain. I brush the stain on....leave it for 5 - 10 mins and then wipe it off. The problem is it never seems to get dark enough. I re-apply the stain and wait for the same amount of time and it's slightly darker than before. I'm not happy with the brush application either as I think a rag is much faster.

I'm considering sanding it all off and starting over. I'm thinking of trying Trans-Tint but I have to drive 50 miles one way to be able to get some so any suggestions would be welcome.
 
Patrick, what grit did you sand the wood with before you applied the stain? I believe if the surface is sanded too smoothly, the stain won't penetrate as deeply, and you'll end up with a lighter color. (I'm no staining pro, so I'll be interested to see what the guys who know what theyre talking about have to say.) ;)
 
I sanded down to 220 before staining. It was only afterwards I saw something about not sanding that high. I guess I could resand everythign with 120 and try again.
 
Some of the folks here (who are certainly more experienced than I) can give you pointers, but it all comes down to the wood and stain YOU're working with.

If you have sufficient scraps left over, why not set up a "test suite"?
3 scraps sanded to 120 grit

3 scraps sanded to 150/180 grit

3 scraps sanded to 220 grit​
For each grit, you could apply 1 / 2 / 3 coats of stain to the respective scraps. That way, you would have 9 variations to choose between. Just a thought...:dunno:
 
Stains can be finicky. Often what the can shows comes out much lighter in use. Try sanding to a rougher grit first, but if that doesn't seem to help go a couple shades darker that you think you need.
 
Here is what I do for sanding:

Maple - 120
Pine - 220
Oak - 150 or 180

The sofeter wods I sand finer to slow down the stain soaking in, but on wood like maple that are tight grained you can sand to much with out closing the grain. One other thing that might help is wipeing down the wood with a damp rag to remove all the lose dust. The fine dust will keep the stain from soaking in.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I've come to the conclusion that its going to be atleast 2 coats of stain on top of a 120 sanding. The colour isnt really dark enough with 2 coats so I might add some black into the stain to see if it makes it darker.
 
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