Thread: question about finishing wood

I'm a novice at the whole wood thing. I sand it smooth, but as soon as I apply the stain, the wood swells from the wetness & the grain pops out, and it isn't smooth anymore. If I sand it again, I'm removing the finish that I just applied. Same thing with polyurethane; wood swells, grain pops out. How do you get wood to stay smooth?

what kind of wood are you working with?

Some oak that I took from a municipal tree-trimming project, has been drying for a couple years.

you can do two things that I can think off.
#1. Soak the wood in clear danish oil then let it dry and sand then you should be able to apply the desired finish on top of that.
#2. Use dewaxed shelac, apply a wash coat and a second full strength coat, sand when dry and apply the finish.

Another method is to stain your wood, then add your clear coat of whatever, and when that drys give it a light sanding with at least a 400 grit, and then clear coat it again and you should find it smooth.

Good luck,
Brock

This is very common... many stains raise the wood grain when first applied. The trick is to lightly sand the piece with a fine grit (320 will work great) to knock the raised stuff back to smooth, but don't go farther than that. If you do, once you stain again the grain will raise again.

Another thing you can do is a pre raising by wiping the piece w/ water or a thin wash coat (diluted sealer/finish) to "prime" the wood for the stain.

Popular Woodworking - Understanding Stains

Check out the part on water based stains

Also, make sure that all of your finish choices will be compatible... best to keep waterbase w/waterbase etc. But, a washcoat of dewaxed shellac can be a great bonder in between different types if you want to go that way.

Originally Posted by Del1r1um

Another thing you can do is a pre raising by wiping the piece w/ water or a thin wash coat (diluted sealer/finish) to "prime" the wood for the stain.

Popular Woodworking - Understanding Stains

Check out the part on water based stains...

Yes. Your wiping rag should be damp with water, not wet. The grain on raw wood will raise almost immediately. After it dries sand with 220. Repeat once. Done.

Easiest way would to forget all the water-based grain raising which is, IME, BS from the bowels of woodworking hell (No offense or judgement against anyone who recommended it, I know different strokes for different folks and all) and instead stain the wood, apply a thin sealer coat or your finish, and then lightly scuff sand to remove the protruding fibers. Same end result as the water technique, but much harder to mess up.

YMMV

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

Easiest way would to forget all the water-based grain raising which is, IME, BS from the bowels of woodworking hell (No offense or judgement against anyone who recommended it, I know different strokes for different folks and all) and instead stain the wood, apply a thin sealer coat or your finish, and then lightly scuff sand to remove the protruding fibers. Same end result as the water technique, but much harder to mess up.

YMMV

IMHO this is great advice, as long as you aren't using a water based finish. If you do use a water based finish or stain, the water based grain can be completely fine. If you do this trick, and don't get the wood 100% dry, then try to put an incompatible finish over it you will be screwed.

To be clear, many finishes (even alcohol based finishes and sealers like shellac) will raise the grain to some degree. This is not a bad thing, but the key point I wanted to make was getting at the same thing I put in bold from Ben's quote in my original post:

The trick is to lightly sand the piece with a fine grit (320 will work great) to knock the raised stuff back to smooth, but don't go farther than that. If you do, once you stain again the grain will raise again.

Once you've knocked off the raised grain, if you don't stop sanding you could get into new unraised/unsealed wood that will swell again.

If you are staining, use an oil or alcohol based stain. I rarely stain wood but when I do, I use oil or alcohol based. The later is a concentrate that I mix with denatured alcohol to the concentration I want. Oak can be tricky, aside the grain raising, it is very porous. One old trick, apply your finish, then sand it with 600 grit while it is wet. That will work up a light slurry that will settle in the grain of the wood and smooth it out without having to use a sanding sealer. After the first 3 coats, you can just apply the finish then steel wool or 1000 grit sand it between the coats until you get the desired finish depth.