I have a project in oak with a coat of a brush applied Cabot stain. Unfortunately, the color of the stain didn’t come out as dark as I would have liked.
Aside from sanding everything off and starting over, is there a way to get the stain darker?
I’m thinking that if I do have to sand everything, I’ll use a gel stain next time. Does that make sense?
Thanks!!!
Patrick
Replies
Patrick,
If you have not already put a finish on it, you can stain again with the same stain and let it sit a while longer and wipe it off. That will give you a shade darker project. If you want it a lot darker use a darker stain from Cabot and apply it over the existing stain. I always advise using the same product over another because of chemistry issues.
If you already have a finish on the project you can still darken it without resorting to total refinishing. Two things you can try. One, gel stains can be used as a shading finish by applying it to the finished surface and allow it to dry and apply the same original finish over the gel stain. Two, if the original finish was lacquer you can apply shading lacquer over the entire project to darken the whole look. You can tint varnish or poly as a shading finish, but unless you are spraying you will get mixed results. Try all of these suggestions on scrap before ever applying it to the original project. Chemistry has a way of humbling even the best finishers.
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