stain on raw pine canopy?

[reefnetworth]

1) should i stain my canopy,?
2)leave it as is?
3)paint it?
4)red mahogany stain?
5)lemon oil?
6)or old english?

:confused:

TIA

[LooseHip]

depends on the look you are after.... I stained my stand mahogany, it had pieces of pine on it on I really like the look... my vote is mahogany....

[reefnetworth]

thanx, LooseHip! kinda what is leaning towards aslo, it shows more of the woodgrain...

[Mark426]

for a natural type finish...tung oil or danish oil. Dead simple and foolproof to use. Nothing beats the depth of a natural oiled finish.

Mark

p.s. its not really oil ya know...its like a thin varnish

[paulyl61]

If you decide to stain the pine, make sure you use a conditioner first, pine will stain very unevenly if not pre-treated.

[mspad]

You might want to use a polyurethane finish to protect the wood from moisture.

[Mouse]

7) buy more corals so no one looks at the stand.

[sphinx105]

Stain it and let dry real good and apply water based ploy. The wood conditioner is a good idea too on pine as it does stain unevenly. The conditioner will make the stain a bit lighter, but in the end you won't notice it. The water based poly will raise the grain some, so you may need to sand between coats, but it is more impervious to moisture than oil based when completely cured. Plus it is crystal clear, dry in about 2 hours and does not smell to the heavens.

If you are going to do the inside of the canopy and use MH lights, use the oil based spar (marine) poly as it has a VU protector in it, but it is a shade or two darker than regular oil poly.