I recently removed oak balusters from the loft and stairs. I am in the process of staining the oak to the appropriate color. What I have noticed is that the base oak boards where the balusters were screwed against are either lighter or darker in color to the surrounding oak board. Basically the stain is not uniform in color and shows the imprint of the old balusters.

My question is, would several coats of stain help in making the stain more uniform, or will the color eventually become the same over time. These areas where the balusters were placed never seen the sun, so I assume its age and direct sun light that caused the discoloration or aging.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to salvage as much of the old material as possible.

BTW- I will not be going with the same style baluster configuration, so I cannot hide these base board imperfections.

Mike

I would have sanded that oak before trying to stain it. It probably will not help by staining it twice but you could try. It now will be easier to replace than stripping it, sanding it and starting over.

I neglected to write that I did sand the pieces down to the bare wood. I stipped the wood with paint remove then sanded with 60 grit and then 150. even when I had the wood sanded down to bare, I can still see the imprint.

You can continue to fiddle with the stain and see if it can be improved. No harm there. What you got is what you got. You could overlay it with an oak veneer as well or replace it.

I sanded more with same results. I also applied more stain, that did not work as well, I was thinking of the concept of veneering, but the top would show the 2 pieces. So I decided to pull them and going to be replacing the worst ones.

Thanks for your advice.


Mike