Re-staining a Bookcase

Hello Group,

I have a pine timber Bookcase that is stained in a Rosewood colour, and recently inherited an identical bookcase- but this is in a clear finish.

What would be my best option to re-stain this Rosewood, would I have to sand it right back? or can I stain over the top of the clear finish after a light sand back.

Thanks in advance


Ian

Hi Ian

To get a deep natural looking colour the stain has to soak right into the surface so you need to sand it back. One of the challenges in staining pine is to get an even colour - pine tends to go blotchy at random.

The two main approaches to overcome this are to sand it very throughly and evenly to try to get the stain to be absorbed more evenly.
The other one is to seal the surface with two coats of either sanding sealer or half strength polyurethane and sand it back fairly hard but so that there is still some sealing effect to control the stain absorbtion.

The best colour I have ever got staining pine was on some pre-loved lining boards that had been very heavy handedly oiled with linseed oil in a previous life. I sanded them back very hard thinking that I was back to bare wood (this was during my early period!!) but they had a more evenly controlled, richer and more natural looking colour than the rest of the project built using new timber.

It might be better to strip the finish with a chemical stripper and finish with a light sand.

Here's something that might help - don't sand to too fine a surface - especially don't burnish the surface - the stain will sit on top like a paint and look very fake.
If you find sanding down to fine grits with an electric sander is the best way to get a good surface then finish the sanding by hand sanding with a cork block and either 180 or 240 grit paper.

There is a conflict here - the final finsh over the stain needs a fine suface with no visible sanding scrathes - the stain needs a hairy porous surface which will soak up the stain.
The key is evenness - do the same thing over the whole surface and inspect by looking along it at a low angle.

Now that I think about it, if the surface is in good nick it should need almost no sanding after chemical stripping, possibly only handing sanding with 180 grit. (Very evenly with great attention to detail).

Good luck. I'd love to see pictures.

Regards

Gerard