Left stain on curtain rod for days


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Old 07-25-10, 12:33 PM
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Left stain on curtain rod for days

Ok, I'm a newbie and made a mistake of staining some bare curtain rods. I thought they would just dry, but after a couple days I realized they were still sticky and decided to read the directions.

Apparently, I was not supposed to let them air dry. It's now been a week (did this last weekend) and I can't simply wipe off the stickiness with a cloth towel.

What should I do? Thanks a ton!
 
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Old 07-25-10, 03:17 PM
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You can either strip them with a chemical stripper and start over, or get a bucket of lacquer thinner, some #0000 steel wool, some rubber gloves and rags, and get to scrubbing.
 
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Old 07-25-10, 03:20 PM
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If I used the lacquer thinner would I essentially have to start over like in step one?

I'm really clueless about what to do. Obviously I don't want to start over, but at this point I just want to do the least amount of work. So if sanding it down and starting over is the easiest route I'll just have to do it. Thank you.
 
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Old 07-25-10, 07:00 PM
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The idea behind the lacquer thinner would be to remove only the sticky portions of stain that have not soaked into the wood. Lacquer thinner would probably not remove the stain that has penetrated into the wood pores. A chemical stripper and lots of sanding would do that.
 
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Old 07-26-10, 04:03 AM
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I would try paint thinner [mineral spirits] first,often it will remove just the excess stain. Sanding would be a royal pain because the wet stain would plug up the sandpaper

Another option would be to get a spray can of poly and apply a coat of it to the wood. When it's dry you may need to sand lightly and apply another coat of poly.
 
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Old 08-30-10, 11:54 PM
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Just letting everyone know that I used the premium mineral spirits and it worked excellent. Thank you so much.

All I did was apply some to a rag and lightly wipe the closet rods until the extra stain was wiped off. They look beautiful now and are not sticky!
 
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Old 08-31-10, 05:47 AM
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I don't think it's been said yet but your mistake was that excess stain needs to be wiped off after a little while, as stain works by penetrating the wood and that which does not gets wiped away - a few mintes to a half hour or so, depending
 
 

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