The way some folks skip the grain filler on open-pore woods like oak before staining makes me cringe every single time. | Furniture Finishers - Opinions Matter
The way some folks skip the grain filler on open-pore woods like oak before staining makes me cringe every single time.
I mean, I watched a guy at a local shop in Boise do it on a whole set of chairs last month, and the stain just pooled in the pores making this awful, blotchy mess that took me 3 hours to fix after he gave up.
Skipping grain filler is a sure way to ruin a project. That pooling stain is so hard to fix once it sets. The trick is to use a paste wood filler, let it dry fully, and sand it back smooth before you even open the stain can. It adds a step but saves so much headache and wasted stain. What kind of finish were you putting over it?
Watching that happen is the worst. My uncle tried to stain some oak shelves without filler once and they ended up looking like a muddy mess. He just painted over them in the end.