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Help with woodcare Understanding finishes
A stain gives wood a colour and nothing else: it goes on bare, faultlessly sanded wood, and is always overcoated with a finish — lacquer, shellac or wax on furniture, Mylac or Hard Wax Oil Natural on a floor. Four ranges: Light Fast Stain, spirit-based, dries in 10 to 15 minutes, does not raise the grain and is light-fast; Water Stain, water-based, transparent, the best on softwoods but it raises the grain slightly; Nitrostain, solvent-based, non-grain-raising, for furniture; Earth Stain, the designers' palette, thinned with Earth Stain Thinners. All intermix, and all are tried on an offcut first.
Page updated September 2026 · by the Mylands France woodcare specialists
The principle
A wood stain is a dye in solution — spirit, water or solvent — that penetrates the fibres and colours them without covering them. The grain stays visible, often sharpened. But it has no protective properties at all: the first hand soils it, the first drop marks it. A stain is always followed by a clear finish, and that finish decides how it wears.
The range has four. Light Fast Stain, spirit-based micro-dyes: dries in 10 to 15 minutes, no grain raising, exceptional UV resistance, sixteen colours from White to Black. Water Stain, water-based: transparency, all timbers but softwoods above all, including Antique Pine No. 3. Nitrostain, solvent-based: non-grain-raising, the furniture tool. Earth Stain, the designers' palette — Chalk, Clay, Natural Linen, Silt, Washed Umber — thinned with Earth Stain Thinners.
All intermix within their range, for the exact shade. The collection: stains, by oak, pine, mahogany and earth.
Six looks
01
A bare oak sideboard stained with Light Fast Stain Light Oak: the stain evens boards of different colours and gives new oak the golden blond of oak that has lived. By cloth, in fast strokes along the grain, dry in 10 to 15 minutes; then a shellac or a wax on top.
02
An old pine floor, new and old boards mixed, stained with Water Stain Antique Pine No. 3: the water stain, the best suited to softwoods, evens the boards and avoids the blotching pine makes under a spirit stain. Wood pre-wetted then de-nibbed first, so the raised grain holds no surprise; Hard Wax Oil Natural on top.
03
A beech table, a pale, close-grained wood, stained with Light Fast Stain Walnut: the beech takes an even walnut brown, without blotching, because its tight grain drinks uniformly. Two coats for depth, the second as soon as the first is dry; then 2000 Pale Shellac Sealer Basecoat or a French polish.
04
A stripped mahogany chest of drawers, revived with Nitrostain Red Mahogany: the solvent stain, non-grain-raising, gives the wood back the deep red that stripping washed out. By cloth, overlapping each stroke slightly; French Polish on top, with a rubber, for the warm gloss modern lacquers cannot reproduce.
05
An oak floor stained with Earth Stain Clay before Mylac Matt: a clay tone, muted and contemporary, drawn from the palette interior designers choose. Thinned with Earth Stain Thinners for the shade you want, laid by cloth or sponge, then sealed with Mylac, Mylac Extra or Hard Wax Oil Natural.
06
An ash console stained with Light Fast Stain Black: ash, with its large open pores, drinks the black harder in its veins and keeps the drawing of the wood under an ebony colour. Two spirit coats, quick to dry, then Wax Clear buffed up — or a shellac barrier before any water-based finish.
Compare
| Range | Base and drying | Grain | Best on, and over it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light Fast Stain, 250 ml | Spirit, micro-dyes; dries in 10 to 15 minutes; UV resistant; thinned with Light Fast thinners | Non-grain-raising (NGR) | Hardwoods, furniture, floors; lacquer, shellac, wax — a shellac barrier before a water-based finish |
| Water Stain, 250 ml | Water, light-fast dyes; good transparency; slower to dry | Raises the grain slightly: pre-wet, let dry, de-nib first | Softwoods above all, pine and floorboards; all timbers; every finish |
| Nitrostain, 250 ml | A solvent blend chosen for its application; quick to dry | Non-grain-raising | Furniture; lacquers, shellac, waxes |
| Earth Stain, 250 ml | Thinned with Earth Stain Thinners; the designers' palette | On wood sanded 80-120-150-180 | Floors: Mylac, Mylac Extra, Hard Wax Oil Natural; furniture: lacquers, shellac, waxes |
The full method, from sanding to finish: How to stain wooden furniture.
Before choosing
No stain is chosen from the bottle. The same colour is pale on oak, strong on pine, even on beech; and the finish changes everything: a shellac warms and darkens, a wax softens, a water-based lacquer keeps the shade cool. Stain an offcut of the same wood, sanded through the same grits, lay the intended finish, and judge it in the light of the room.
The wood matters as much as the stain. Close-grained hardwoods — beech, maple — drink evenly; oak and ash, open-pored, hold the colour in their veins. Softwoods blotch: pine drinks in patches and marks under a spirit stain. The answer is a water stain first — Water Stain — which evens it out. The detail, wood by wood, in Understanding wood before finishing and Finishing pine and softwoods.
Finally, preparation: a stain magnifies every scratch like a lens. Grits 80-120-150-180 in order, then a degrease with Cellulose Thinners or pure turpentine.
To avoid
Frequently asked
Rarely to change it, often to even it. Light Fast Stain Light Oak matches boards of different shades; Earth Stain Chalk or Clay gives it a contemporary tone; Dark Oak deepens it. The six shades of Hard Wax Oil colour and protect in one go. See Finishing oak.
On an offcut of the same wood, sanded through the same grits, with the intended finish on top — it is the finish that sets the final colour. On a piece of furniture, the back or the inside of a drawer. Judge it dry, in the light of the room.
Pine drinks in patches: the softer zones absorb more and go darker. That is blotching, and a spirit stain reveals it. On pine — floorboards above all — lay a water stain first, Water Stain, which evens it out.
A stain is lightened by thinning it — Light Fast thinners for the Light Fast Stains, Earth Stain Thinners for the Earth Stains — or by mixing it with a paler stain from the same range. To pale the wood itself, Light Fast Stain White or Water Stain White lay a light veil in the grain, to be overcoated afterwards.
On a floor: Mylac, Mylac Extra or Hard Wax Oil Natural. On furniture: a lacquer, a shellac — 2000 Pale Shellac Sealer Basecoat then French polish — or a wax. Over a Light Fast Stain, a water-based finish first needs a shellac barrier coat.
See also
“The stain makes the colour; the finish makes the rest. Never confuse the two.”
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