Rustoleum Ultimate Wood Stain - no conditioner required to prevent blotching?

I recently picked up a can of Rustoleum Ultimate Wood Stain, and upon reading the can noticed that it says that the need for a wood conditioner is eliminated. I was planning to use a conditioner prior to staining to prevent any blotching as I am using a dark color (kona) on hemlock wood.

Does anyone know if the verbiage on the can about eliminating the need for a wood contioner mean that blotching is eliminated, or just that the Ultimate Wood Stain seals the wood afterwards? I searched online, but there is very little info about this particular product out there.

 

All stain pretty much seals the wood afterward. The reason for a conditioner is to allow the wood to accept the stain more evenly. The only way I can see the product eliminating that need is if it is designed to sit on top of the wood rather than soaking in - more like a paint than a stain.

It might work for you but I would definitely test it on some scrap first.

 

I would add that because wood conditioner partly seals the wood - the stain will come out lighter than it will on wood that hasn't had wood conditioner applied. I don't think I've ever used any Rustoleum stain.

 

FWIW, I sent this question to RustOleum to get their take. The response was that this product has excellent coverage and a wood conditioner is not necessary. They went on to say that I could still use a conditioner for uniformity, but it is not necessary.

 

The only reason to use a wood conditioner is for uniformity in soft woods like pine. Pine has both soft and hard spots in the wood. The soft spots will drink the stain and be darker, the hard spots struggle to absorb the stain and when the excess is wiped off - those areas will be lighter.

After rereading your first post - blotching is more of an application error than a problem with some parts of the wood taking stain better than others.

 

marksr - Thanks again for the reply. I understand what wood conditioner is used for and that's why I asked the question originally. I'm staining hemlock, which I've read can have some blotchiness/uniformity issues, hence my concern. I just found the verbiage on the can about the stain acting as a sealer and not needing a conditioner to be confusing, and when RustOleum replied they didn't exactly clear anything up.

I think I'm going to take a section of scrap that I cut off and try half with wood conditioner and half without. In all likelihood I'll end up using a conditioner anyway.

 

The majority of the woodwork in my bed rm is hemlock [from a tree on my property ] I didn't use a wood conditioner and it stained out nicely BUT I didn't use a dark stain. Hemlock does have a lot of the same characteristics as pine. If possible pick a board with a lot of grain variances in it for your test piece.