min-wax wood stain

[Larry Alles]

I applied Minwax wood stain conditioner to some red oak. I waited the 5-15 minutes and wiped it off. About two hours latter I applied Minwax Golden Oak
stain. I waited about 10 minutes and wiped it off. Let it dry overnight. Next morning there were raised liquid spots on top of the stained wood. I wiped that off
and minutes later they re-appeared. I can't seam to get rid of the spots so I can use wipe on poly. Anybody else have this problem? I tried using just the stain
on a piece of cut-off and it looked good after about 8 hours. What gives.

[Erik Loza]

Sounds like the surface was contaminated. Spray any silicone or other stuff near your project?

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Jay Runde]

I've did several projects with red oak, and each time I've stained it, I had the same thing happen. I didn't use conditioner either, so don't think the conditioner makes a difference. If you do a search on "red oak stain bleeding" you'll see its a common issued when staining red oak.

[Prashun Patel]

Red oak has open pores that drink and then bleed back stain or finish. You might have to do it a few times, but the dots should eventually cease. You were lucky that they wiped off easy over night. Sometimes they gum up and are trickier to remove.

You may have a similar issue with the poly you apply too.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Next time you may want to use some pore filler.