General Finish gel stain products vs poly for pine early american furniture

[tom coleman]

I am building a kitchen table...........plywood top, pine legs and apron. Also an armoire w 3 drawers this summer while vacationing in Maine. I will be using #2 pine glued up panels or cabinet birch plywood sides w pine face frames for armoire. I have not had much luck in the past using stain on pine followed by poly.............never did try a conditioner or sealer on pine first and this is probably my mistake. If I want the knotty pine effect............what should i do?

I have been reading about the General Finish oil gel stains and these sound really promising. Any comments on how this might look and work on a kitchen table made w plywood top and pine legs or trestle base, aprons. I assume oil based raher than water based is the way to go.

thanks in advance

[Tom Scott]

Like you I have not had good results with pigment stains on pine. I have had the best luck coloring pine with either shellac (orange or garnet) or dye. Both can get you that early American look and can be top coated as needed (might not be required with shellac depending on use).

[John TenEyck]

My experience is pretty much the same as Tom's. Most pine blotches something awful when pigment stains are applied, the same with dye unless it's sprayed on. I don't use much pine, almost none, but when I do and I want to color it I use shellac toners (shellac + Transtint dye), and I spray it on. With a cabinet using birch ply and pine solid wood, I'd definitely be looking first at sprayed shellac toners in order to get a uniform color. I'd spray several coats and build the color to what I wanted, more coats to the lighter areas, less to the darker areas.

John