Staining furniture, one piece darker than the other?

Question

I have two pieces of furniture, one that I just sanded and another that's been sitting in the garage for a while. Both are pine. It has been humid lately and the piece that's been sitting has turned a shade darker than the one I just sanded. Will the darker shade make a difference after I've stained both? Do I need to re-sand the darker piece before I stain both?

Answer 1

I suggest you lightly sand the darker one before you stain them.  Also, pine is notorious for being blotchy when it's stained.  Get some sanding sealer (or make your own by thinning varnish about 1 part varnish to 4 parts mineral spirits) and put a light coat on the pine before you stain it.  Then when you stain it thin your stain such that it only tints the pine.  Then you can put additional coats on until you get it the right shade without having to put on stain then wipe like a mad man to get it off before it dries too dark.

Answer 2

It will depend on how dark the stain is.   It may also be important to know WHAT caused the one that's been sitting to be darker - if it's just due to exposure to moisture and dust, then it's unlikely to have a serious effect on how well the wood grain will take up a dark stain.  But if it was exposed to something else, particularly something oily, that substance could affect how the stain soaks into the wood.  Oil, for example, will tend to prevent the stain from being absorbed, and the wood will be lighter in those areas.

The safest answer would be to sand both pieces, and I would definitely do that if I was going to use a very light colored stain.  

As always, if there's a way you can test the stain on a hidden spot, do that first.  

Answer 3

The darkening of the one piece is caused by oxidation. Eventually, both pieces **should** look the same, but if it were my job, I would want to start with both pieces being as equal as possible. Also, If the darker piece has been sitting for a while in a humid environment, you'll want to sand it again anyway, in case the humidity has caused any grain to raise.

A couple of things to keep in mind when finishing pine:

Knots? If this is a knotty pine piece of furniture, seal those knots first. Try shellac, just dab on a couple of coats of shellac to seal those knots. If you don't do this, the knots WILL bleed through your finish.

I don't know what you had in mind for the look of this piece, but one finish that is nice, that looks great with pine, is to do a "pickled" or "white washed" finish which gives you a translucent coating of a light color and helps to obscure the grain and knots (if there are any).

Consider using a toner, or a pigmented finish either instead of stain or as part of your staining strategy. Toners are just finishes with pigment in them. Put on too much and you get brown paint. Put on a little and you get staining that goes on very evenly and no danger of the stain soaking up and looking blotchy in areas, which is also a frequent problem with pine. Toners are used routinely for such things as general coloring of furniture, sunburst finishes on guitars, creating high and low areas of color on furniture (for antiquing effects, for example) and also to obscure repairs. You can buy toners in spray cans, or you can mix your own.

So, sand both pieces when you're ready to start finishing so that you know that you're starting with all things being equal. Otherwise you could easily make the honest mistake of putting more stain on the lighter piece, which might make it look darker in the long run, after oxidation and exposure to sunlight darkens the wood of both pieces.