this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2023
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Woodworking

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Recommend finishing products to me that aren't Minwax (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 11 months ago by captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works to c/woodworking@lemmy.ca
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Minwax has ruined enough of my projects. I'm looking for recommendations for wood finishing products, particularly stains and wiping varnishes, that actually work, are readily available on the East coast of the United States, and are not manufactured by Sherwin-Williams.

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[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Birch ply wood and yellow pine. Thing is, there aren't many other species of wood I really want to stain, most everything else I work with like cherry or walnut I want for its natural color.

[–] IMALlama@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Pine is a harder to stain wood in my experience. Maybe there's a treatment you can use ahead of time? I've had decent luck with shellac on pine and you can dissolve dyes in it.

[–] hank_and_deans@lemmy.ca 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

This is likely the issue. Both of those woods are famously incompatible with normal stains. Gel stains are what most people recommend for those woods. I have also had decent luck with Saman stains with the right preparation and great results with Omnia natural oil.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 months ago

🙄 Man if there's two species I want to stain, it's those. Like think about how abundant pine is, you can get it at any hardware store right? I live in a pine forest and I know a local sawyer. Yellow pine is abundant and cheap here...and kinda bland looking.

Guess I'll try out some gel stain, I've never used it before. Don't know anything about it.