Before staining a hardwood floor, I sampled the stain on a scrap to test the color.
The floor is oak, but the sample I had was birch.
The oil-based red mahagony stain appears far darker than I expected, and far darker than I recall the sample in the store looked (though I'm not doing a side-by-side comparison). Since oak is darker, I expect the final result to be even darker.
But I used a foam brush, not a cloth, to apply the stain. I find a foam brush a bit easier (and faster) to handle than cloth.
Do foam brushes soak up too much stain and inherently result in darker tones? Is a cloth really necessary to apply wood stains to produce the "official" tone?
A foam brush doesn't really allow for "working it in". You soak it and swipe. If you attempt to rub it in, the foam will shard quite quickly. By comparison, a cloth could handle rubbing. I can't quite appreciate whether rubbing will insert more stain inside the grain, or will spread the bit of stain on a larger surface. I'm wondering: is rubbing in the stain required?
Or might the issue be simply one of perception, and once an entire room has the tone it will no longer look quite as dark?
Best Answer
Most stains don't need to be "rubbed in" but of course that depends from can to can. Read what your can says for how to apply. If it doesn't mention rubbing in then don't do it. Almost all stain (unless otherwise stated on the can) has to be removed shortly after it has been applied. The longer you leave it on for before you wipe it off, the darker it will be. Try to be consistent on your floors for whatever time you choose to keep the color consistent across the room.
Using a cloth or foam pad doesn't really matter for the applying part. Of course it will be much easier to remove the stain with a cloth. I personally like using Viva brand paper towels as they are very rugged for this but you can choose whatever works for you.
As an aside, if you are staining floors, you may want to look into water popping as I feel it produces a much better end product. :)