20 Best Wood Stain For Pine (2023 Updated)

I bought this to add colour to a Alder wood live edge table I made. I tested it before use and the piece I had it looked fine. I followed all the directions using pre-stain, waiting 1. 5 minutes for stain to penetrate before wiping off.

As you can see when I applied it to the entire table, some places are super dark and some really light. The stain didn’t absorb evenly at all. Even in the light places it’s almost completely covered the grain.

Maybe other colours are better, but “dark Cherry” is awful! Debating sanding it and starting over.

I needed a dark colour stain for a cabinet and other brands did not match or were not in stock. I took a chance on this product. I did not realize it was going to set into a dark colour stain with varathane tough coat finish.

I had expected to stain one day and varathane the next day. This product does both at once!! It left a beautiful glossy finish on my cabinet as if I had bought it that way. Very impressed with this product.

I used the Varathane wood stain on a Christmas porch board. It was easy to apply and dried quickly. The dark walnut color needed only one coat. I applied white vinyl to the board to produce an excellent result.

I also used the same stain on a few wooden crates that I use around the house. The results were great with only one coat.

Not a very consistent product on its own. Medium to larger projects require additives, but are sold separately. Sometimes the project comes out great the first shot, sometimes it takes a redo or two.

I see other reviewers that had the same issue even with extender. Oil based stains work far better and don’t require all the fancy additives to get a consistently good and even stain. I’ve been on the fence with this stain.

Smaller projects it can be flawless. Larger projects. I have to say the Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, and all kinds of prayers in hopes that it works 😅Sooooo back to oil based stains!.

So this review is not a dig on general finishes. They make great products. Some I swear by. This is not one of them. On bare oak, especially right angles and raised panel doors, almost impossible to get great results which are automatic with oil based.

Raises the grain, dries so fast you have no time to work it out without streaks and blotches. Also does not penetrate worth a dam and leaves very slight grain marks that did not take the stain. I’m an experienced wood worker and have always used oil based stain with stellar results.

After this project is done, I will never use water based again. I’ll deal with the odor and extra time to get good results. Woodwork is a labor of love and worth some extra time.

This stuff was infuriating because its not like oil based where you wipe it on and then wipe it off and have all the time in the world. I tried doing a 36″x47″ panel with this and first i tried hand applying then wipe off and it was already dry so i had no time to wipe off.

Failed. Then i tried spraying from my Fuji Q5 to increase speed and wipe off, again dried too fast and failed. 3rd test i did was fhe magic ticket. Spray it on thin but coat it all and DONT TOUCH IT, and it turns out fantastic, although very dark.

So the key with this stuff is dont listen to can instructions and basically treat it like paint.

I use this on outside swing, cherry gingerbread cutout antique front screen door, outside rocker and all my back doors (3 double broken light doors) to pool area and many other wood freshen ups after cleaning and lightly sanding.

I have learned not to use UV Protective poly as a finish because it is too hard for me to sand to freshen up but wood experts do recommend a sealer finish for water protection, however, so far, since all doors are under main roof, I have done well and as a woman I can only keep up so much.

The tube is expensive to me and hard to find, big stores don’t carry MiniWax anymore and you are discontinuing it. Too bad, but the stain is very thick and full bodied and not watery, which is a pain to apply to my projects.

I do have MiniWax Gel stains in several shades that were what I used before the tubes that I bought of Express Color and had to shop EBay and paid more, all different prices and expensive and found one at Walmare Online with contract seller.

What a real hassel for sure.

This produces a beautiful even colour in an uncommon shade and looks fabulous. It tends to be a bit darker blue than manufacturer pictures show, more tending into navy than azure. I love making things out of wood, and anything blue so I have used a lot of this.

The shade has been consistent between tubes. It seals the wood well and is easy to clean stained pieces because of that sealing. These little tubes go a long way, and an opened tube is astonishingly long lasting when firmly closed and stored properly.

That is probably because of the little release gasket thing in the neck of the tube, which is also the reason I dropped a star. It’s quite difficult to get a small amount out, as enough pressure to get it past the pressure seal results in a big bloop of stain.

So what makes leftovers keep well also is a pain for fiddly last bits as it frequently results in a puddle of unused stain for me. That said, I’ve bought this stain multiple times, as the colour alone is worth the occasional frustration with dispensing.

Excellent Product: Indigo MINWAX EXPRESS COLOR wiping stain & finish. This came on the market less than a year ago. It was hard to find at first. Now it appears to be discontinued. I have an entire room of cabinetry 3/4 finished and NEED MORE.

Help. It was easily applied, was the exact color we wanted, and we loved the results. Until we can’t finish what we started. I will give ZERO stars for that, but the product was good and deserved five stars.

Company managers, maybe not. I cannot recommend to friends due to the short time it has been on the market, how difficult it was to find a year ago, and discontinued now. Craziness from a company I used to depend on!.

I used Redwood to paint pine siding of my cabin. The product was very easy to apply with super stainer paint brush and clean after. Good coverage. Redwood color transformed the cabin beyond recognition while covering imperfections.

It simply looks beautiful. I got lots of complements from the neighbors. I’m a very happy customer.

This product appears to be fantastic! My deck has needed attention the last two summers, but Illinois weather has not cooperated. It’s been too rainy and the temperatures have been too high including the humidity levels.

Ready Seal defies those weather barriers! After stripping the previously used product from the deck and cleaning away the caustic residue, we waited two days for the deck to dry well. Application of Ready Seal went exceptionally well.

Amazingly no start-stop marks could be found. This product blended well with no extra work. We applied with both roller and brush. For such a large deck the product did an awesome job of coverage. After one coat the water repels so well – it’s like a new waxed car, the water just beads up on the wood.

This was the results after only six hours before another rain passed through the area! Looks like maintenance should be easy and a follow up application can be applied in temperatures of 35-90+ degrees.

I’m so glad I found this product. I will definitely be using it again!.

Tried 6 different stains and am very happy with Old Masters oil-based White Pickeling Stain. I bought a live edge coffee table on EBay and was really disappointed with the glossy deep yellow tone of the wood which did not show up in the EBay photos.

The original plan was to stain it Walnut. I tested a swatch of Verathane and Minwax oil based Walnut and Special Walnut and they looked terrible-‘flat’, unnnatural, and reddish. I then tried a Verathane oil based Weathered grey and a Behr water-based Classic grey and both looked blue and not natural.

I tried Behr Water based pickling and it barely colored the wood. The Old Master White Pickling Stain really ‘stained’ and lightened the wood and it looks very natural. I’m not sure what type of wood i have but i think its a very yellow-toned maple and now it looks like Eucalyptus toned.

Other reviews say you might get a pinkish tone and i do see a pinkish/ peach hue but only 5%. a very slight tonal shade-totally acceptable. I finished with a matte water-based Verathane finish to eliminate the yellow tones.

It took me a day or two to accept that my initial vision (walnut) wasn’t going to work with the wood i have, but now I am super happy with how it turned out. It looks great! In the future I will ALWAYS go with oil based which seems to penetrate the wood better and look natural.

I have used this stain in the past. It turned oak doors into a work of art. I recently used it on 6 panel pine doors. Also with beautiful results. Many compliments came my way. I use a soft cloth to apply the stain and rub with the grain.

I wait 24 hours and then apply polyurethane varnish. I am totally satisfied with this product. I showed the younger generations how to use it. They love it too.

I like this product a lot, and I have bought it in a few different colors. The ability to leave it on for a shorter or longer period and then wipe the excess gives you a lot of control over the darkness and uniformity of the final appearance.

I will say that I think Rockler’s website shows the wrong color for this particular “Rich Mahogany” stain. The color chip displayed in the store was correct and faithful to the actual result, but the color as it is shown on Rockler’s website is incorrect.

I use this product for all of my wood work. I have done my window seals as well as my brand new doors. It is easy to work with and give the wood a little “je ne sais quoi” 🙂 One thing to keep in mind though, is that you will probably need several applications.

I would not recommend staining with this product when your object is vertical such as a door. Indeed, it can run off quite easily. That being said, if you are careful and/or vigilant you can easily remove any drop with a sponge (here I am assuming laminate/tile flooring.

I can’t speak for carpet). Finally, the finish. For a truly stunning finish, I would recommend using Danish oil once you are satisfied with the colour. Good luck.

Ordered a lot of testers for various brands as I was struggling to get the colour I was after. A lot of the time they didn’t come out as shown/advertised in photos, however this product did. I had multiple tester colours from littlefairs and they came out as they should of.

I’m currently in the middle of staining one of my wardbrobes in their moonlight grey stain and I’ll be using their products again to do the furniture in my spare room and each room there after. Top product, top quality and top price :-).

I ordered this before in a smaller quantity. I used it on very basic pine furniture and the result was gorgeous! Rich and expensive looking furniture for little cost! Im going to apply this to an old staircase I have stripped and totally confident it will look stunning! Thoroughly recommend! *****.