Pre stain or not?

[weelis]

I have just  finished building an Adirondack chair out of cedar and have elected to stain it.  Is it necessary to always prestain a project and is any one brand better than another?  Thanks for any feedback.

[Roly]

If you have problems with blotching or the stain going too dark a prestain may help as it controls absorption of the stain. If you are using a deck stain I don't think it will make much of a difference. Roly

[hcbph]

IMO one advantage to prestaining is you eliminate the possibility of having spots missed where parts overlap.  Big thing is not staining where parts must be glued together as you can have adhesion issues.