Wood gel stain

[reason2believe]

Hi, has anyone used this? Do I really not need to sand down to bare wood before applying? Is it durable? Any tips?

Thanks so much!

[Ramz-ee]

I have used it. You don't need need to sand much at all. I just sanded to scuff up the finish.

It is durable, but it is more like a paint than a stain, so it does have the possibility to chip off. You will want to cover with poly, so just make sure the poly has time to cure and you will reduce the risk of chipping.

I love the results and would use it again, if the piece warranted it.

Before:



After:

[reason2believe]

Thanks so much for sharing. Your project looks fantastic!

Since you say it's "paint-like" would you still say it looks like stained wood? Does grain show thru? Also, would it be a poor choice for a dining table?

Again, thanks!!

[TBM]

I have used it on shelves, a changing table and something else that I can't remember right now, without using poly on top and it has held up.

It does not penetrate the wood, so it is more like paint in that way, as pp said. It is not opaque like paint though. I used it on melamine shelves and it took quite a few coats to get good coverage. I found that applying it with a brush helped give it more of a wood grain look...enough to fool one of my daughters who was standing right next to it. She is an artist and is super picky about stuff like that, and she thought it was a nice chunky shelf.

[midwest07]

I used the Minwax gel stain a couple of months ago on a portion of our bannister/posts after posting on here and people saying how much they liked it. Specifically, penguinsrus shared her thoughts and that same project.

I did a combination of light sanding and deglosser to get it ready. I applied three coats, following the directions on the can - used a brush, let it sit briefly, then wiped it off. Depending on the look you are going for, maybe you just want one or two coats, but I wanted mine pretty dark. I then covered with two coats of poly.

I think the end product still looks like stained wood, partially because you can still see the underlying grain, and because the painting on/wiping off process kind of adds to the grain effect. However, it's still sitting on top of the wood, it's not absorbed into it like a stain is. So it just depends on the look you are going for.

I have a couple of other projects in mind that I want to use it for - two nightstands and our kitchen table. Personally, I think it's great for a more casual kitchen table (the one I am going to redo is a $250 Target dining set), but I am not sure I would use it on a really nice dining set. For that, I would probably do a true stain or go a completely different direction and paint a fun color.

[Ramz-ee]

On our bedroom furniture, you could definitely still see the wood grain, but you can also feel the wood grain. I'm sorry, I don't know what kind of wood it is, but clearly not all woods allow you to feel the wood grain.

I did not do the wipe off process as pp suggested. I left it on and let it dry. I'm not sure if that's why I had some small chipping issues.

Here is a picture that shows the wood grain throw the gel stain.

[house]

My DH used Minwax Gel stain on a dresser we bought. It was painted so we had to strip and sand to bare wood. He did think it went more on like paint than stain.

[TBM]

Nov 7, 2012 18:05:45 GMT -5 house said:

My DH used Minwax Gel stain on a dresser we bought. It was painted so we had to strip and sand to bare wood. He did think it went more on like paint than stain.

Gel stain is formulated to go on over surfaces like fiberglass doors or shellac, so if your H sanded to bare wood, he could have easily used a penetrating stain.


I didn't use the wipe off method, because I was trying o get it to cover the melamine and give me the darkest surface possible. I went over white melamine on one shelf, and over primer on another.

Letting it dry/cure before use makes a huge difference in durability as with any other paint, stain, whatever.

[reason2believe]

Thank you everyone! I'm going for it!