Stairs

[aaaaaa]

Hi,
I have new home. I want to stain wooden stairs which leads to the basement. My basement is unfinished, and the stairs is not smooth(it has chipped off at many places. Can I use primer to fill the crakes before staining? Please waiting for reply.

thanks

[IanDB]

What sort of stain are you going to use? If it's a proper wood stain which will soak into the grain then unfortunately any sort of filler you put in is going to be noticeable as it won't absorb the stain in the same way as the wood.

If you're putting on a "paint" or oil based stain then you will be able to put a neutral plastic wood filler (for example) in the chips and get everything smooth before coating. Best thing to do is to try it on an area that can't be seen or on a spare piece of wood before you do the whole lot!