HELP!! - Spots on stain

[thrt15nc]

Can anyone offer ideas as to what these are and how can they be fixed or better yet, how can I assure I don't have them on the rest of this chair? These are the seat slats for the Morris chair I'm working on and you can see spots on it. Being it'll be covered with a cushion, it's not too bad yet. But I don't want them when I go to stain the chair body. It's white oak, hand sanded to 180 and then brushed on Varathane stain. I didn't notice splashes of stain setting on the wood during the staining. The stain sat for about 15 minutes, never drying though, and then was rubbed off with a clean white cloth. Poof, all these spots! Any suggestions?

Tom

 

[Travis Porter]

Looks like water spots to me caused by raised grain. Lightly sand the entire piece with whatever your last grit of paper was/is and that should help. Also, you can lightly sand the spots and resand and it should go away.

My .02.

 

[dancam]

Tom,

How did you apply the stain?
Are the spots on both sides of the pictured panel?

At first blush, they look like some kind of splatter that happened before you stained the piece.

Do you have any scraps that you can try and replicate the spots. It might be something that is inherent in the supply of oak that you got.

Dan C.

 

[Howard Acheson]

I would bet on water spots. Did you have this out in a rain? Rain spots are particularly troublesome as rain, particularly in North Carolina contains lots of various chemicals. It can be very difficult to remove them.

The best I have found is to use oxalic acid which is a bleach used to remove mineral caused blemishes. Wipe the whole surface so you don't create further problems.

 

[thrt15nc]

Ah HAH! Dan and Travis, the spots are only on one side. I didn't even stop to look before as I was pretty upset upon seeing them. Snapped a couple of pics and came up to post. So now after thinking about Travis mentioning water spots, I remember someone (she'll remain nameless) washing their car close to the garage, er...shop a few days ago while the door was open. The chair was sitting close to the front. Now I'm wondering if water did get sprayed on it. Yikes, now I need to go take a look at the top of my table saw!!

But anyway, if it is water spots, re-sanding before staining the rest of the chair will take care of it?

Tom

 

[Henry W]

I am not an expert, but i would agree with Dan - that looks like spatter to me. If it appears on the other side of this piece, that likely is not a good explanation, but from the picture, it looks like spatter. Did the piece get wet? A few drops of rain perhaps? I'm obviously guessing.

I would re-sand and re-stain - once I checked the back of that piece for comparison.

Henry

 

[thrt15nc]

Howard, how easy is it to find oxalic acid?

Tom

 

[Travis Porter]

Resanding has worked for me in the past. Basically, you have raised grain where the water is and it caused the stain to look different. As for what is already stained, sand it in those areas and restain. Has worked for me.

 

[JimmyC]

Tom,
If you need oxalic acid you should be able to get it at a hardware store, if the big boxes don't have it try Hudson's hardware. If they don't have it I'm sure that you can get it at Burke Brothers in Raleigh. Thry calling ahead.

Good Luck.

 

[thrt15nc]

Thanks for all the help. One last question. If I were to wipe the rest of the chair with mineral spirits, will that show where there will be spots?

Thanks,
Tom

 

[Travis Porter]

I doubt it, but I don't know for sure. The best thing IMO is to hit the thing with 220 grit paper free hand overall. You should be able to tell if you have a spot while you are staining, and if you do, hit it with sandpaper then and there and fix it.

 

[thrt15nc]

Thanks Travis. I just went and rubbed the tops of the chair arms itself down with mineral spirits and nothing showed. But if this seat rack got wet, then I know for sure the chair arms did also so you're probably right that I won't see it by rubbing with spirits. I'll re-sand. Thanks everyone for all the help.

Tom

 

[Howard Acheson]

>> how easy is it to find oxalic acid?

Go to to a real paint store. Or, a marine hardware or supply store will have it. Most "teak cleaners" are oxalic acid. Look at the ingredients on the label.

 

[Matt Schnurbusch]

Tom,

I'm not sure if Oxalic acid is the right tool for the job, it may be, I just don't know. I used to use it when I did deck restorations, to remove mineral stains from the deck boards caused by planters and such. I would also use it after the stripper was applied and removed to brighten the wood and neutralize the ph-level of the wood.

I'm sure I still have some, and you are welcome to a portion of it if this is something you want to try. Send me a PM if interested.

As to using it for your purpose I would have to bow to the experts and let them tell you proper water/oxalic proportions, dwell time, and rinsing methods.

Let me know.

 

[Ozzie-x]

I'm not familiar with Varathane stain, but according to their webste it is "soya" base which of course sounds like an oil base. You may try some wet-or-dry sandpaper and some of the stain and just rub the spots out. Of course you will have to the entire piece to get uniformity. This will also provide some measure of pore filling. Oil base stains are usually very forgiving, and will acheive some degree of darkness and that's as dark as it gets. Good luck on sanding all those corners, definetely one of the challenges with craftsman/ mission style furniture. When possible, I've started finishing my craftsman stuff before I assemble the piece, the individual flat straight pieces are easy to deal with. Also saves a lot of time and improves quality.