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I've read a good response here on conditioning and staining with blotchy woods. I have a stubborn pine that I stained twice. The blotchy side was embarrassing. I completely forgot to use my conditioner.

I've gone over it with both moderate to light sanding using 200 and 300 grit papers. Some areas show the original pine while others still have a light layer of stain.

I am using a water base stain and plan on going for another darker color.

Is it possible at this point to condition then stain before applying the final?

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I've gone over it with both moderate to light sanding using 200 and 300 grit papers. Some areas show the original pine while others still have a light layer of stain.

Is it possible at this point to condition then stain before applying the final?

The point of the conditioner is to seal the grain before you stain. I suspect that the areas with stain remaining soaked up more of the stain originally, hence becoming blotchy. If you already have stain in the "low" points of the wood grain, using the conditioner afterwards isn't going to help reduce blotchiness all that much.

My advise is to sand back to bare wood (no stain visible anywhere), apply the conditioner, and re-stain.

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  • My project is already glue pressed. Completely going back to the original wood would not work. There are several corners that will be impossible to sand.
    – Frank
    Mar 16, 2016 at 21:27
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    @Frank, scraping might get into the corners you're having issues with.
    – grfrazee
    Mar 16, 2016 at 21:29

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