Pine has many good things going for it; it's widely available, relatively inexpensive and one of the easiest woods to cut and shape with machine and hand tools. However, the earlywood (spring growth) of both white and yellow pine is soft, porous and off-white. The latewood (summer growth) is very dense, hard and orange. Thus, the earlywood and latewood react differently when sanded, stained and finished, causing an uneven appearance that frustrates beginning and experienced woodworkers alike.

When you sand pine by hand, without the aid of a cork-, felt-, or rubber-backed sanding block, you cut away the soft earlywood much faster than the latewood. This leaves depressions that show up when you apply a finish.

When you stain pine with common pigment and dye stains, the stain penetrates deep into the porous earlywood but very little, or not at all, into the dense latewood. This uneven stain penetration causes a color reversal in the grain pattern. The white earlywood darkens, while the orange latewood stays about the same.

When you finish pine with nonbuilding finishes, such as oil and oil/varnish blend, or slow-building finishes, such as wiping varnish, the finish soaks deep into the porous earlywood but hardly at all into the dense latewood. This results in an uneven sheen. The earlywood appears flat, even after several coats, while the latewood becomes glossy.

Pine also varies randomly in density throughout, in addition to earlywood and latewood variations. No matter how well you sand pine before staining, you often get darker splotches when you apply the stain. These splotches are caused by deeper stain penetration in the less-dense areas that occur naturally in the growth of pine trees.

Your best option for finishing pine (other than painting) is probably to leave it unstained and apply a film finish, such as varnish or lacquer. Unstained pine is quite attractive. The wood turns a warm yellow-orange as it ages. All finishes will warm and deepen the coloring, which will get darker and richer with age. This look on pine has been popular in northern Europe for many years and was once popular in the Unites States. Applying several coats of a film finish gives you an even sheen across the porous earlywood and the dense latewood.

If you do decide to stain pine, your best option is to use a thick gel stain, such as Wood-Kote. Thick gel stains don't penetrate much because they don't flow. The result is a much more even coating with little splotching.

To use a glaze, first apply a full coat of finish and let it dry at least overnight. After sanding lightly, wipe glaze over the surface and remove the amount necessary to give you the appearance you want. You can use a gel stain as a glaze. Wipe with the grain.

To tone the wood, add a compatible dye or pigment to your finish and apply it to the wood as a second coat. You will get the best results if you spray this colored finish. You can also brush a colored finish, such as Minwax Polyshades, that won't obscure the wood much because it has so little pigment. It's best to apply several coats of clear finish over the toner to protect it from being scratched off the wood.

Michael Russell

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