[zpafk6]

Hello!

I just finished staining wood for a coffee table I'm making out of pallets. The wood that will go on the bottom and act as a shelf turned out looking perfect and in regards to highlighting the grain. The table top was made out of wood from a different pallet, and the stain came out looking awful. I'm trying to figure out what kind of wood it was that stained perfectly. Just FYI, the wood was sanded to spec, and I used pre-stain on both the table top wood and the bottom shelf wood.

The wood I'm trying to identify.

The table top wood that looks awful.

Ideally I will be able to find some other pallet wood in my stock pile that is the same as the first picture so I can redo the table top with it.

Any help appreciated!

 

[joed]

My first instinct says it's pine, but I am not 100% sure.

 

[Mingledtrash]

The first ones the ones you are trying to identify look like either oak with a dark walnut stain or actually walnut with a dark stain.

the second pic crappy looking ones look like just standard 2x4s prob pine, fir, or some other soft wood.

thats my best guess. i will flag your post and ask them to move you over to carpentry they will have a more acurate answer.

 

[zpafk6]

The first ones the ones you are trying to identify look like either oak with a dark walnut stain or actually walnut with a dark stain.

the second pic crappy looking ones look like just standard 2x4s prob pine, fir, or some other soft wood.

thats my best guess. i will flag your post and ask them to move you over to carpentry they will have a more acurate answer.

Impressive, the one I'm trying to identify is stained with minimax dark walnut. To be honest, the table top wood that looks like **** didn't have the typical feel of pallet wood. After I sanded them, they had a good grain pattern, but obviously don't stain well..

 

[gregzoll]

Majority are Southern Yellow Pine. The rest are made out of Oak if they want them to last long. The CHEP pallets are usually Oak and they will stand up to anything.

You will find stuff that is lightweight is shipped on the SYP pallets. Everything that is heavy like HVAC equipment, etc, is shipped on Oak.

 

[mako1]

I don't see anything there that looks like oak.I would say it's all SYP.The second pallet could have had a lot higher moisture content than the first.Could be the reason your stain turned out poorly.Are the boards from the second pallet heavier than the first?

 

[zpafk6]

Majority are Southern Yellow Pine. The rest are made out of Oak if they want them to last long. The CHEP pallets are usually Oak and they will stand up to anything.

You will find stuff that is lightweight is shipped on the SYP pallets. Everything that is heavy like HVAC equipment, etc, is shipped on Oak.

I did read somewhere that oak and SYP are used in approx. 50% of pallets.

I can't remember exactly where I got the wood that stained well, but I'm 90% sure I got the wood that stained poorly from a motorcycle/ATV dealership.

I don't see anything there that looks like oak.I would say it's all SYP.The second pallet could have had a lot higher moisture content than the first.Could be the reason your stain turned out poorly.Are the boards from the second pallet heavier than the first?

The boards that stained poorly didn't have the typical pallet wood feel, they were definitely a bit lighter, but I pulled them off a pallet just like always so I didn't put too much thought into it. Both types of wood were "yellow/white" wood, and had a good looking grain to them after they were sanded to 180g.

Don't know if this matters, but the good looking wood was wiped down with a wet rag (raised the grain) before staining. BTW, I did let the wood dry for a full 24hrs before I stained. The bad looking wood was just wiped down with tack cloth because I though the raised grain wouldn't stain as well. lain:

 

[ront02769]

It is all pine. However, Remember how pallets are cared for....and that would be not at all. Could have been any kind of stuff that got on them and sealed the wood too deep for your sanding to get to. Try to turn one over and see how the other side takes stain. Ron

 

[Millertyme]

My red oak end table with min wax walnut stain and satin oil based poly. Looks similar

 

[zpafk6]

It is all pine. However, Remember how pallets are cared for....and that would be not at all. Could have been any kind of stuff that got on them and sealed the wood too deep for your sanding to get to. Try to turn one over and see how the other side takes stain. Ron

If I remember correctly, that actually was the bottom side of the pallet wood that I stained. I did that because it was much smoother and had a lot less gunk on it than the top side which had obviously not been treated well

My red oak end table with min wax walnut stain and satin oil based poly. Looks similar

Looks pretty close, your grain is a bit sharper though.