"THE WOOD IS CLEAN". Probily not as clean as you think. Silicone is next to impossible to remove from wood. Auto paint stores carry cleaner that takes a lot of the silicon off. Look at the contints of everything that has been used to clean and polish the table to see if silicone is named.

In addition to silicone (most likely culprit is Pledge furniture polish), glues, incomplete removal of old finish (e.g., sanding only), or other contamination can cause stains not to grab. Dyes need to soak into the wood structure and pigments need somewhere to lodge.

How did you prepare the surface for staining?

How did you prepare the surface for staining?

Liquid stripper then a sanding..then a laquer thinner wipe.

There may still be finish left in the spots that aren't taking the stain.

Or the sanding of the old stripped finish may have burnished the wood in spots, making the pores closed and unable to absorb stain. What grit did you use? Did you use a power sander? Did the paper tend to gum up?

Basically all the reasons mentioned so far, plus there could be the original stain still in the wood. Wood has soft grain and hard grain areas. Pine is the most common wood with that characteristic---and pine is infamous for staining badly. The more dense grain takes very little stain, while the softer areas soak it up.

I too am having a problem. the arm rests and foot rails of my solid pine have been worn down from use. I had cleaned the arms of the chair of build up of grease and debris from hands. I also tried sanding them and am thinking that I sanded them too smooth. is there any suggestions as to what I am to do to stain them? They are very resistant. Thanks

What kind of stain are you using? And what did you use to clean the wood?

I Used steel wool to clean the arms of the chair first. then sanded. It came very smooth. I seemed to think maybe I sealed the wood so smooth that maybe that is why it wont take the stain. had a similar problem on an oak piece of wood on my stairs but that one I figured being oak the wood was a hard wood. I will check but am pretty sure that it was a minwax product. Will post later.