What do you all use as a medium for your stains to get good penetration of stain into the wood? One of my issues is that quite often the finish will re-emulsify the stain, with potential unevenness, and also burn thru when rubbing out.

Many finishes utilize mineral spirits as a thinner/solvent, which I find cause the above issue with mineral spirit/oil based stains.

Water based stains can/will raise the grain.

Alcohol based stains?

Others?

Mike Hunter
www.mikehunterrestorations.com