Quote Originally Posted by Simon Barden View Post
Note that the initial one or two coats any finish, be it oil, water or spirit-based, will release some of the stain from the wood whilst it is wet. Using big movements with the application cloth will carry the darker colours onto the lighter ones (and vice-versa, though it is far less noticeable), and can affect your burst affect. Which is why spraying at least the first couple of coats on a multi-colour finish is preferable to wiping a finish on. Once those first coats are on, dry and the stain is sealed in, then the wiping isn’t an issue.

If you do wipe, then on the first coats, work from the light centre to the dark outside, and rotate the cloth each time you use it to avoid adding dark stain to the lighter sections. Or dab the finish on, again working from light to dark, and dabbing on areas of a similar shade and using a clean patch of cloth when moving to a darker area.
To add to this - when I use tru-oil I use a brush (suggested by others on this forum) to apply the first 2 coats to reduce the amount of stain movement, then use a cloth and wipe on the later coats. I still work from the lighter colours to the darker colours.