Woodworking instructions on wood conditioners is the one step of finishing your project that is least understood by people who do woodworking at home. When to use it, what is it, and what does it do? These are all frequently asked questions that I'm are going to answer for you.
When to use it? When ever you are staining wood that does not absorb stain evenly. Soft woods like pine, and hard woods like maple, and cherry are the ones that are commonly pretreated with a wood conditioner. If you are applying a clear coat no pretreatment is needed, and even grained hardwoods like ash and oak do not need it either.
What is it? Wood conditioner is simply thinned polyurethane, in the proportions of two parts thinner and one part poly. It's something that you can readily mix yourself and avoid paying a premium price when you probably have what you need lying around your garage or basement. A word of caution, this will only work for oil and lacquer based varnishes. You can not use water-based products for mixing your own, it will not work as you intend for it.
What does it do? It partially fills the pores of the wood to control the rate of absorption. The can of a popular wood conditioner states that "you should wait 2 hours before you stain," but varnish takes about 8 hours to dry depending on temp and humidity. You need to wait the 8 hours if you want to stop the stain from blotching. Something you also need to keep in mind is that when you use a wood conditioner, it will lighten how dark the stain will get because the wood will not absorb as much stain any longer, so choose your color with that in mind. It also helps to do a test board if color is critical.
There is no reason you can't have a great looking finish every time if you just follow a few simple steps and keep in mind what you are trying to accomplish.
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