This was Waterlox with a little bit of Minwax Honey mixed in.I used Waterlox with a little bit of Rust-Oleum American Walnut stain mixed in.It works beautifully with dark stains, though (Rust-Oleum, not Minwax). *I didn’t use pre-stain conditioner, but I’ve worked with pine enough to know that even conditioner can’t salvage pine enough for my taste when it comes to light and medium-toned stain colors. And when you get that much pronounced grain on a large item like a dining table, it looks so incredibly busy. And depending on the stain color, I’ve seen the grain in pine turn yellow, and orange, and even an awful reddish purple. See what I mean about the grain? I think that’s awful. This was my “control” sample with just plain ole stain on it.So my goal was to come up with something that gives a medium-toned aged finish, minimizes the crazy pine grain, while ending up with a durable oil-based finish on top. I know it clears back up when it dries out, but it’s just not something I’d ever use on dining table. It drives me absolutely crazy the way that water-based poly clouds up when it gets wet. And water-based polyurethane isn’t an option for me either. Wax is just not durable for a table that is used often, so that’s not even an option that I would consider. But I really don’t want to do any kind of painted faux finish on my new table, and I’ll never, ever, ever live with a dining table that has a waxed top on it ever again. Let me preface by saying that I know you can achieve pretty finishes on pine with paints and waxes. So yesterday, I tried out some different methods to see what I could come up with, and I actually think I found a way to stain pine a gorgeous medium-toned brown color that looks somewhat aged, while minimizing all of that yellow and orange grain! No matter how much wood conditioner, or how many coats of medium or light stain I use, that awful grain is still there…and accented in a way that I don’t find pretty at all.

It’ll never dry.)īut I’ve tried that method with light and medium-toned stains on pine, and it just doesn’t work. And I always prefer to use Rust-Oleum wood stain on pine because you can literally paint it on like paint (just not quite as thick as paint) and it’ll still dry completely in a relatively short amount of time, and you can cover up as much of that crazy pine grain as possible. That way it’s easier to cover up all of the crazy yellow and orange grain. I generally use a wood conditioner, followed by a dark stain color. And I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to stain new pine, but it’s tricky. But back to reality…I’ll be building my table out of pine. 🙂Īnyway, a table like that, in that warm medium brown tone, is exactly what I want.

You get the idea, right? And I’m fine with it looking old and beautifully aged, like a well-loved antique, but I don’t want rustic. Somehow that makes sense in my mind.

Minwax stain colors on spruce