Stain- I paid a price for getting in a hurry.

[Firestick]

Well over the years my basic stains have been Minwax and Cabots sometimes Sherwin Williams. More often than not I would mix Minwax colors to get the desired color I wanted. Well not this time and I paid the penalty. I shopped around until I found the color I wanted. It turned out to be Kona by Varathane. I was suspicious from the start as it read "Dries in one hour and can be coated in two hours". Well it did dry fast. WAY too fast for it to truly penetrate the wood. I let it sit over night before the 1st finish coat. I noticed right away it rubbed off way to easy so I was careful apply the Tru Oil. I let it dry over night and rubbed the finish with 0000 steel wool. Yep. The stain lifted in a couple places so I had to pull some of my old tricks out to touch it up. Second coat goes on before bed. I hope that seals it well enough to not lift like it did on the first coat. Never have I had such issues with stains before but they all dried SLOW and really took over night before you could apply the first coat of finish. Varathane....NEVER AGAIN. MAYBE with a spray finish and light use it would work. GRRRR

 

[exMember]

I like to stick with what i know best. Birchwood casey water based stains and alcohol stains. I've had bad luck with minwax on softer woods, just gets real blotchy and covers up any pattern in the wood. I feel your pain!

 

[Firestick]

There are tricks to using Minwax that I learned over the years. Dry brushing to make things even out is one of my favorites.