The Lovely Wife and I have been installing some unfinished pine tongue-and-groove paneling in our living room - which is looking purty darned good if I say so myself - but don’t want to mess up all our hard work in the staining process. Any hints on types of stain (gel stain, etc.), wood conditioner, filler, setting nails, staining procedures and so forth will be greatly appreciated.
Usually I would stain the wood prior to installation and keep most of the mess out of the house. But that's past now.
1) Is your pine rough or smooth and which surface texture do you want? If smooth, then you should sand the surfaces with 150 to 180 grit sandpaper using a random orbital sander with dust collection. Test a sample first to determine if sanding is necessary. Vacuum and tack wipe the surfaces after sanding/prior to staining. Carefully start the sander and do not let it get to full speed before you start sanding since you can mar the surface easily with a high rpm sander, especially with the rougher grits. The palm sanders will work too with less likelyhood of maring the surface but they'll take longer.
2) I'd use a good quality gel stain, (Bartleys, JelKoat, Minwax). You can adjust the stain tint somewhat by applying a second coat with a different gel stain if you want. Typical stains sold in most stores are mixtures of dyes and pigments. You'll need to apply a sanding sealer coat first (or a spit coat of shellac) if you use one of these stains or stain/finishes.
3) Regardless of which approach you take, you should obtain several small samples of the stains you might like and then prep sample paneling sheets, apply the various sealers, stains and finish topcoats. Take the sample boards into your room and assess if you like the color/tint, finish, etc. These sample boards should be at least 2x2 feet or larger. The darker stains will obviously darken the room more when applied to the larger room walls making the smaller sample boards harder to judge. This may take several attempts to end up with a pleasing stain that works with your room and planned furniture/drapes, rug, etc.
4) Set the nails approximately 1/16 inch or so using a nail set. I usually have two sets and grind them to a point. New sets work well for a while but when nicked are hard to regrind with the dimple shape. Take your time using a comfortable small hammer and you'll minimize mistakes.
5) Uncolored putty is difficult to stain match with the surrounding wood. You can use the colored puttys after staining your wood and get pretty close. I prefer to use the colored wax sticks since many colors are available. If your local hardware store doesn't have many you can find more at Woodworkers Supply, Constantines, or Woodcraft on the internet. The wax sticks can be blended to achieve slight color changes and match the stained wood very closely. Apply the wax to the holes prior to applying any finish coats. Another alternative is to use colored shellac sticks but this is typically used for furniture repairs due to cost/availability.
JTD & Dummy, are you familar with the term pickeling (sp)?
I just put up some 4 x 8 sheets of bead board on a ceiling. I was going to shellac it, but saw a ceiling that had been "pickeled" and really liked it. Only problem is, I have no idea how to do it. Is this a special type of paint, or is it a stain, or something else altogether? Thanks.
Pine can be "pickled", basically a bleaching of the wood followed by an application of paint or stain, wiped off somewhat and sealed with a finish. I've not tried this but I've got a book by S.W. Gibbia "Wood Finishing and Refinishing: 3rd ed that describes several pickled finishes for pine (rose-pink, silver-gray, driftwood-gray, white) and other woods. I'd advise getting a good reference book since there are several steps involved. Sound's interesting. Good luck.
I believe that the "rusty nail" stain works primarily with woods with a high tannin content, like the oaks. I'm not certain that it would provide sufficient reaction with the pine to stain it much.
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