I would like to stain my quilting frame to match my other furniture? Can anyone think of a negative to doing this?

I did it and it was a lot of trouble, but it looks nice. Mine was a Hinterberg stretch frame and had all those wooden cogs, etc.

I have a Little Gracie and it has more hardware than one would think, but I just feel like it needs to be finished. Did you sand it down or use a conditioner on the wood first?

I know it's going to take a ton of patience.... probably more than I have but I can envision the end result and want to give it a whirl!

I'm thinking of staining my frame also. I'll be watching for the answers to your question.

I probably should have done more sanding than I did, but I just hit the rough spots. I used the combination stain/polyurethane in Pecan, if I remember right. I'm getting ready to take it apart again to move it into my new shed and I really ought to put a coat of clear polyurethane on it before I re-assemble it. Hinterberg recommends using an oil-based wipe-on stain or combination stain/polyurethane for best results. Because of the moving parts they don't recommend varnish or shellac that would build up on the surface. Hope this helps.

I stained my Hinterberg Easy Build...sanded it really well, used Minwax and then finished it off with tung oil. Looks great ten years later and because I did all the staining before I put it together, it was really simple to do.

The only down side is the stain 'takes' differently on the different types of wood they use for the frame, some is oak and some is pine. It's not a big deal really.

I emailed Gracie too and their answer was: "Please do stain. We use a tongue oil with the stain in it that really has worked well for us."

I'm not sure what is meant by "tongue"/tung oil so I'll have to check out my local Lowe's/Home Depot/Menards.

But I'm definitely going to do it, but I REALLY don't want to take my frame apart...I was hoping to just be very careful going around all of the hardware....if I took it apart, I'd be afraid I'd never put it all back the way it should be.

Tung oil cures to a satin finish that is water resistant. It does not change the color of the stain, but makes it glow a bit. Wipes on with a soft cloth, do several fine coats rather than one thick one.