I know nothing about Gel Stains. My impression is they are semi-transparent and go on atop the wood surface and they add their color like toners except they don’t need to be sprayed.
1) Is my impression roughly correct?
2) Are there any stand-out gel stain manufacturers?
3) Is shellac (SealCoat) a good base? Or should it go on against bare wood? Or use some special Gel Stain Sealer?
4) If the gel stain doesn’t look good, can it be sanded off easily?
5) I have a maple bureau top that has somewhat poor grain pattern and is somewhat splotchy. It needs yellow-orange coloring but penetrating stain won’t work because of the splotchiness. Is gel stain a worthy candidate?
Thanks, as always…
Doug
The Wood Loon
Acton, MA
The Wood Loon
Acton, MA
Replies
Gel stain is designed for use on bare wood, where it blotches less because of less penetration, but gives the same basic appearance as wiping stains. A good part of the difference is due to the fact that the gel stains are generally pigment only stains, while many of the stains commonly available commercially combine pigment with a dye.
You can use them over a sealed surface like a toner, their consistency does allow them greater darkness than a wiping stain would give used in the same way. It is still true however if you try to use them over sealed surfaces that you should expect to get a less dark coverage. They still aren't paint and shouldn't just be used to build a film of pigment. That can be weak and have curing problems.
If used over a sealer they can be removed more easily than some stains, and over bare wood the lack of penetration makes removal even easier. I'd still generally recommend a stripper for removal compared to sanding. Sanding leaves the wood, especially blotchy wood unevenly sealed and even harder to refinish.
Ease of removal should be a very minor consideration. You shouldn't face that problem on a project, you should determine how it will look, whether you will like the finish, by finishing samples of scrap before you put the first drop of finish on the project. This can't be emphasized enough. If there is ANY doubt finish scrap first. That means test first on almost every single project. Buy wood to have enough for the finish testing.
Thank you Steve. Excellent words, and I think I grasp most of it. I will pick up a can of gel stain tomorrow. Unfortunately I can't do effective testing first - this is for a piece of old (1930? 1940?) furniture, and I don't have a slab of similar wood. I WILL experiment on a few pieces of similar wood (good idea) but my scraps don't have similar blotchiness. I've been reading a lot of posts on pore filling and similar subjects - you really do contribute a lot of very good advice - thank you!Doug
The Wood Loon
Acton, MA
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