[juliem]

Hi, we recently bought some new pine doors (no previous paint or stain) that we are in the process of staining. We lightly sanded the doors before we began staining and wiped them clean with a tack cloth. We stained 3 coats with minwax using a brush two times and a 100% cotton cloth the last. We noticed that there is a chalky/white appearance to parts of the doors and frames. We tried sanding the doors lightly to remove those areas but its just making the problem worse. Any ideas? We need to get this project done before baby #2 arrives in a couple of months!!

 

[Ron6519]

Post some pictures.
What color stain did you use? Did you pre condition the wood as it says in the instructions or did you just put the stain on them?
Ron

 

[juliem]

We used minwax stain called ipswitch. We didn't condition the wood before we stained and actually never have and we've stained several pine doors in the years past. The first few coats of stain didn't really have a problem it wasn't until we were ready to poly.

 

[juliem]

Pics of problem

Here are a couple of pics of the problem....

 

[jaros bros.]

It's really hard to tell by the photos. Just a guess, but were the previous coats dry before you put down another coat? Sometimes it takes up to three days for some stains to really dry. Putting it on with a brush might have allowed too much stain and if it was hot and humid and you didn't wipe after brushing it would take a while to dry, especially Minwax. That's my best guess.

Is the whiteness on the very outside layer? Did you try wiping with thinner or maybe something a little hotter to see what happens?

Also, did they sit in the sun while drying? If they got to hot, the finish might have expanded and caused problems.