I’m restoring a 110 y.o. house and have finally reached the point of refinishing the pine floors. I would like to stain the floors a coffee bean brown color. To try out how the stain would look on the floors I bought some Minwax stains and applied them to some sanded pieces of the floor that I had set aside for patching. Much to my surprise the dark stains did not penetrate the wood. I tried the stains on some new clear pine trim stock and had no problems with the stain. What’s going on here and what can I do to condition the wood so that it will take a stain?
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I would say there's too much resin in the older pine to take stain like the younger pine does that you bought at Home Cheapo. Some of the old timer floor sanders used to call that stuff bathtub pine. (You could fill up a bathtub with all the clogged sandpaper you used on the floor).
Have tried wiping on some strong coffee for that cooffee bean colour you want??
Pine is notorious for taking stain badly -- I'm not familiar enough with American materials to advise you but try posting your question here --- it's a board for professional floor finishers and very helpful.
IanDG