I wanted to change the finish on a chairs arms, so I sanded off the old finish. It took a lot of elbow grease, but I got it to where none of the ugly orangish finish was visible and the wood looked raw.

I don't know what kind of wood it is or what the old finish was.

When I applied the new stain (it's an all in one), it came out very blotchy. I stopped applying when I saw how bad it looked.

Is there some kind of conditioner or something I should be applying before trying to re-stain the wood? It seems like resanding alone won't do the job.

Thanks

 

Stain has to absorb into the wood and sanding is a tough way to remove the old stain. My fear is the new stain is not absorbing. I would strip the piece and try again.

 

Wood that is stained is not going to look completely even like it is painted. There is going to be a lot of variation in the wood and the way it accepts stain. Its also possible that you didn't get all the finish off in some areas.

You can apply a wood conditioner (that's what its called) to the wood before you stain, but it will also make the stain turn out much lighter than you expect.

All in one's like Polyshades often look like crap because of the brush strokes. Unless you spray the finish, a lot of how it turns out depends on how good you are with a brush. And it takes multiple coats of that product to build up what you might consider a nice even coating.

 

I'd suggest using a chemical stripper, then a little sanding and then apply a regular wiping stain followed by several coats of poly. As mentioned above, tinted polys can be difficult to apply especially over raw or partly raw wood. Unless spraying I always apply tinted poly over wood that already is sealed with poly [just to alter the color]

 

I tried stripping (2x applied stripping paste, let sit, scraped with abrasive sponge and then wiped), lightly sanding and applying stain. I got the same exact affect.

On both arms, I can see the wood looks different in the middle of the arm. Though I can't see it, it is possible the 2 curved edges are separate pieces of wood. It might be 3 pieces glued together and sanded. This is a barber's chair BTW and it was expensive. I mention that because the old finish I am sure was made to be durable and I don't think the wood is cheap.

I am considering painting it with a glossy paint. I am not sure what else to try to get a stain to take and this already took way more time than I anticipated.

 

It could be a veneer, and if so, what you might be seeing is where you sanded through the veneer.

 

I think you are right. Makes sense.