This is sort of off topic, as it's not directly audio related, but I figure some of the questions could be applicable to speaker cabinet veneer as well.

I'm trying to refinish a pine table. I want to stain it and have read it may be beneficial to use a product before the stain which will allow it to soak in evenly and not splotchy. Anybody have thoughts or opinions on such products?

Secondly, there's a decorative 1/2 cm by 1/2 cm notch cut along the top of the table all along the edge. The notch has a flat "floor" and flat "walls". I'd like to fill it with something as it has a propensity to collect debris and can get pretty gross. Would a wood filler crayon work? I've never seen one but have read you can buy them in different colors and you just work it into scratches and gouges in wood to lessen their appearance. My goal isn't to have the filling exactly match the color of the new stain, but I would like to have it filled so I can wipe the table off and not have crap fall in there.

I'll eventually put poly on this table, but am worried the notch is too large to fill with poly alone. (Plus I'm a little concerned about what it would look like...)

i'd use a stainable wood filler to fill in the notch.

As far as an even stain goes the first thing is to be sure that you have all of whatever old finish was on there off.

Before you start staining the top of the table, try your stain on the underside and see how the wood takes the stain.

There are grain fillers tat can be used if the are issues with getting an even stain but I don't know if they would be good for pine or not.... worth checking if you stain has issues on your table.

But just test on the underside ... that way you also know if you have the right colour, as stains 'change' quite a bit on pines....

.5 cm is to big to fill with a crayon and really is to big to be filled with wood putty either. If you must, you should "dutch" in a piece of solid wood. Take the advice above about testing the stain color. There are stain sealers that are used on pine and other soft woods to even the stain. The trade off is that the stain wont penetrate as deeply so it wont work if you going for a dark color.

Just stained a cheap un-finished pine cabinet for my daughter to use as doll furniture (large doll). We used Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner (http://www.minwax.com/products/wood_preparation/) which is specifically designed for soft woods like pine. Minwax oil-based stain over, then finished with poly. Testing with just stain on bottom surfaces first showed just how well the Pre-Stain works to even out the finish. Without it the pine sucked up the stain like a blotter. Minwax also makes a stainable wood filler that should work well with their stains. Any hardware store should have all of it.

I like boiled linseed oil on old pine.It will protect and seal it without getting
too dark which is very easy to do on pine.I like the idea of sealing the groove
with a wood strip.You could cut it to size and stain it a dark ebony color.
Contrasting colors are cool in woodworking projects.

Thanks for all the replies. I'm still sanding (ugh...) but will try some stains on the underside before doing visible areas. Good idea. I appreciate all the suggestions.

Fitting a piece of wood in the groove sounds like a plausible idea. Boy-o-boy. Why do I always seem to underestimate the amount of work a project is going to take? It's as if I get all motivated one day and the next day I'm like, "wtf was I thinking..."

I would also recommend finishing with a polyurathane top coat as it is much tougher than anything else.

I would also recommend finishing with a polyurathane top coat as it is much tougher than anything else.

Yeah. I read somewhere that lacquer and varnish aren't water proof, so poly it will be.

Here's a picture of the table.

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/3287/dsc00445i.jpg

And here are some pictures of marks on the top surface which are being very stubborn. You can also see the gap which needs to be filled running around the outside of the table.

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/3002/dsc00447o.jpg

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/1112/dsc00450p.jpg

The marks are from where something was scratched across or dropped on the table. While the surface is flat, the marks remain. They seem pretty deep, as I've sanded on them for a while with only little improvement. Do these need to be removed before staining? Or will the stain (something dark, like walnut) blend the blemishes in? I fear if I try to get them all out I'll have taken too much wood off the top in those areas, leaving the top not level. (And taking that much wood off the entire surface is just not going to happen. I'm doing this by hand.) Thoughts?