Wood Staining Techniques: Stretch That Stain

By Seth Keller

wood staining techniques text Wood Staining Techniques: How to turn that chunky old stain into a finish you can use. A client of mine dropped a large suitcase down her stairs and snapped a spindle on the railing. I was confident the spindle was a stock item at a home store, but I needed to match the stain and sheen perfectly or the new spindle would stick out like a sore thumb. When I picked up the broken spindle, I asked her if the previous owners had left any stain when they moved out. ‘You’re in luck,’ she said as she emerged from the basement handing me the stain. This job would be a breeze! or so I thought.

how to buy a router guide I picked up a spindle at the home store on my way back to my shop, but was disappointed to find a firm crust on top of the stain when I opened the can. I paid a visit to the local hardware store that carried the finish, but they had discontinued their stain line! What was I going to do? I punctured the crust inside the can of stain and found a goopy mess. But using the exact pigment, even with the chunky stain, would be easier than trying to match the stain from scratch.


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Put most simply, there are three components to any stain; pigment, binder, and solvent. I needed to take advantage of the exact pigment, despite the lack of solvent, which had evaporated years ago. Staining lighter wood to a dark tone is difficult so I decided to brush a thick, goopy first coat to get a ton of pigment on the spindle.


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Once the stain dried, I sanded off the thick chunks. I brushed a second coat, just as I did the first. A deep base is essential when applying dark stains to lighter wood.


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To prepare for my final coat, I added a small amount of solvent to the can of dried stain, (about 5 – 10%) and let it sit for an hour.


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I mixed and stirred like crazy to dredge every little bit of pigment off the bottom of the can. Then I poured this mix through a cone strainer for a perfectly smooth stain.


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To my delight, when I applied a final coat to the spindle, it went on silky smooth. I couldn’t wait to install the spindle, knowing that it would be impossible for my client to identify it from the rest.

Photos By Mike Krivit

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11 Responses to “Wood Staining Techniques: Stretch That Stain”

  1. Peter

    That is a really good tip particularly tto those fresh to the blogosphere. Brief but very precise information… Thanks for sharing this one. A must read article!

  2. Cass

    Thanks. I'm a novice always looking for helpful advice. Keep it coming.

  3. McGowan Evangelist R.

    I was able to do this with the original stain was chunks so I applied like a chalk sticks and proceed as you demonstrated so well. Thanks

  4. Bruce Marconett

    Sorry. With all respect, I dont buy it. You Never stain a solo item, away from the job...especially using old, reconstituted stain, And not knowing the technique used by the original craftsman. You talk about deepening the color...if you have nothing to compare with, how do you know when to stop? Yes, sometimes you can reconstituted, but there are more things to consider...

  5. Jeffrey Smith

    Is there a difference from using a rag to stain your wood vs. a brush? I used a rag to apply to my bookcase. After about 24 to 48 after staining, I applied finish coat with a foam brush to minimize bubbles, what surprise me as I was brushing the finish, the stain was lifting. Not sure what happen

  6. Nancy Lurz

    I brought a can of stain and it had a dent in it! I can't get the lumps out of it were they cause from the dent?

  7. Jessica Cockerell

    I have some old dark walnut stain and mixed/shook really well but the "darkest" part of stain is remaining at the bottom of can. So if I use, it looks like an oak stain as the dark chunky wont break down to even mix it in. Any suggestions... anything around the house I can use? THANK YOU

  8. Maureen Witkiewicz

    My daughter bought Cabot Australian deck stain but it may have frozen over the winter. It looks all cakie like rice pudding. She has stirred and stirred. Anything she can do to fix this?

  9. René Saenz

    I have walnut vaneer on some old speakers one is pretty bad how hard wood it be to restore them

  10. Steven Zawalick

    Too bad that stain was not stored properly with Bloxygen. The heavy inert gas would have protected the leftover finish and this job would have been much easier.