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deedee_2008_gw

Stain not drying

deedee-2008
14 years ago

Everything was going smoothly in my project to repaint and restain our staircase to the second floor until I stained the rails and posts. I'm guessing that the wood is poplar; it definitely does not look like oak or maple (house built 1996). Everything in the staircase was just clear-coated with something, not painted or stained. I sanded down the rails and posts to remove the finish, applied a pre-conditioner, and applied one coat of Minwax's oil-based Provincial stain, wiping it down after 15 mins. The directions on the can say to wait overnight to apply poly. Well, after 24hrs of perfect/no humidity weather, excellent ventilation, and even use of a fan on it last night, the finish is still extremely tacky. I went over it a few times with rags and ended up wiping off a significant amount of stain that apparently never sunk in the wood, yet it's still tacky. I've refinished furniture before and never had this problem. What is my next step? Any advice is appreciated since those handrails get alot of use!

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