Staining green wood - good idea or not?

[WoodenHead]

I have a customer that is thinking of using a semi-transparent stain for pine board and batten siding.  Is it okay to stain green wood (i.e. fresh sawn), or must they use dry material?  I'm not sure I can get their wood dry within their timeline.  If it they were using an opaque (solid) stain I wouldn't quite be as concerned, but it will be semi-transparent.  Any thoughts?

[Planman1954]

I found this response on another site:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/100032-painting-green-wood.html

[beenthere]

Certainly "can" do it, and if anything it should be semi-transparent stain. IMO

It is not recommended to stain wet wood, but to let it surface dry at least... a month or so depending on drying weather. For one reason, the battens will shrink leaving an un-stained strip if stained too soon.

What is their timeline and what pine are you talking?

[WDH]

BT hit the nail on the head.  Stain it green, fine.  But the wood will shrink and leave little unstained streaks from the shrinkage.  However, it could be re-stained at that point.  Might be smarter to wait until the wood shrinks and is stable in place and then stain it.  Otherwise, it would be best to stain each board before it is installed. 

[WoodenHead]

The client is talking about 2 weeks.  If I had a month or so, I would air dry it first.  That personally is my preference.  At the very least, I was hoping to encourage them to use dry battens (i.e. cut from dry stock).  Battens tend to become hockey sticks and cork screws when cut green.

The pine is Eastern White Pine (or Northern as some call it).

[Kingcha]

I guess one could install just the main boards and stain them, then stain the battens before nailing them up.

matt