Try Watco Danish oil (walnut). It penetrates well and stains evenly. It is a quick wiping finish, you only have to flood it on for ten minutes or so and wipe off the excess. Once it is dry you can recoat as much or as little to get the color you want and then finish with clear Danish oil, or any alkyd/oil finish you want, DONT use water over oil, you are setting your self up for a flakey finish. You can find Watco at the mega home marts or at at local hardware stores. I have used it for several years and have been very happy with the results, just be patient and be prepared to clean up with mineral spirts. Im glad you tried alcohol based dies/stains, many people don't realize how versatile and quick they are, they just dont work well with pine, especially with Southern Yellow pine, its just to hard to stain the hard winter growth rings at all while the soft summer rings absorb stain like a sponge, kind of produces a photo negative effect in the grain (not pretty). Of course any scratches, pits, indentations, or intentional reliefs are going to absorb more finish than the surrounding wood, which is another reason I would recomend the wiping finish because you can rub out the dark spots and flood on the light ones to even it out. If you have trouble with the first coat soaking in to much try a priliminary coat of clear Danish oil, let it dry for 24 hours, then wipe on the color. The first coat will seal the wood and prevent over penetration of the subsequent color. Watco is one of the few color/finish combinations I can recomend because it is easy to work with and it produces consistent results. It penetrates the wood and accentuates the grain and slightly slickens the "feel" of the wood while polys and laquers tend to cover up the grain and make it feely plasticy. I would avoid the poly/stain combos at all cost, they look like crap on pine because you have no control on color. You can tent clear Danish oil with any oil based stain to create a custom color, (saved my behind on several jobs).
PS oil wiping finishes dont trap dust in the finish because they penetrate rather than coating the top and they dont show brush strokes, you simply wipe off the excess and dust/junk before it dries and you will have a beautiful "in the wood" finish rather than just a top coat of color.  |