staining advice

Wood conditioners usually help to even out staining but with cedar I don't know how much that would help. I usually practice on some leftover scraps of the same material too.

Yes, interior. Thanks!

"My son asked me to build a cross for his upcoming wedding."

Okay..................

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You should be ok applying the stain directly.

You could probably use some stain and sealer designed for fences if you find the right color.

Conditioner then stain, wipe off with a rag if looks too dark.

First, level that crosspiece.

Good job, dad.

My go-to for conditioning wood prior to staining is to mix 1 part clear shellac with 2 parts denatured alcohol and brush on a coat.

It dries real fast and can be sanded smooth to remove any raised grain in the wood. This allows the stain to go on more evenly on softer woods like pine and cypress.

Not sure how it would work on cedar since it is pretty uniform in color to begin with. If you go this route, do like already stated and use it on scrap pieces to test first.

Thanks all.

Sanded with 180 and now am now ready to stain. Still not sure about wood conditioner. What’s the worst that could happen if I applied it?

Appreciate the advice!

I always condition the wood prior to stain. It's too easy and cheap to not do it right.

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My go-to for conditioning wood prior to staining is to mix 1 part clear shellac with 2 parts denatured alcohol and brush on a coat

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I just did this when I made a drawer out of cypress for my kitchen and needed to match the existing color. Conditioned with diluted amber shellac, stained with cherry stain, stained again, another coat of shellac to get a bit more amber and then one more coat of stain then polyurethane. Matched perfectly. The stain definitely needed a conditioner - was a bit blotchy on unconditioned wood.

As for cedar, I don’t know. Gel stains go on more uniformly on unconditioned wood than liquid stains and you can get away with skipping conditioning.

Finished product. Thanks for everyone's input. I ended up not using wood conditioner due to Cedar being a softer wood. Used 2 coats of stain and 2 coats of satin poly. As a novice, I'm pretty happy with it. Ready to get the boy married off now!

Nice. One thing to note is that on softwoods like pine and cedar, I do not use traditional penetrating stains. I only use gel stains. Because softwoods can be very blotchy, even when using a preconditioner.

I really don't like when softwoods get blotchy with stain. Wood conditioner helps, but gel stain is more of like a paint. Wipe on, wipe off. It sits on top so it doesn't penetrate and turn blotchy.