Choosing a stain is the most complicated process in finishing.
There are six factors that affect stain selection.
The first decision is your color objective.
It's all about the color.
Do you want a dark stain?
This is Water Based Stain Tobacco on Cherry,
Maple
and Oak.
Or do you want a light stain?
Here we have American Oak Gel Oil,
Pecan Water Based Stain
and Pecan Liquid Oil Stain on oak.
Once you decide that, the next big factor is the substrate.
Are you working with raw wood?
Or an existing finish?
Do you prefer spray
or brush?
Next, do you prefer oil or water stains?
The topcoat selection will also impact your color.
Let's talk color objectives first.
If you want a dark stain,
use our Water Based Stains in the following six colors:
Brown Mahogany,
Tobacco,
Onyx,
Espresso,
Graphite and Black.
If you use our RTM System,
then you have over 30 dark custom colors to work with.
In Gel, there are three dark colors:
Black,
Java
and Carbon Gray.
Here's three dark stains on Poplar:
Espresso Water Based Stain,
Java Gel Stain
and Spiced Walnut Liquid Oil Stain.
Notice how much darker the water-based stain is than the oil stains.
Liquid Oil Stains cannot support as much pigment and are more useful for light colors.
If you like lighter shades, you can choose from any of our stain lines:
Liquid Oil,
Gel Oil,
Water Based Wood Stains
or RTM Stains.
Check out our full line of colors at GeneralFinishes.com/all-colors.
Next, you have to think about how your color will display on wood.
Regarding raw woods,
the type of wood species will affect the evenness and saturation of color.
The first factor is the density of the wood.
If you are uncertain,
do a little research online to look up the characteristics of the wood you are using.
Don't get caught up in the labels of softwood or hardwood.
They can be equally difficult to stain.
Let's talk about the most commonly used woods.
Traditionally, Maple and Cherry are the two most difficult woods to stain
because of the uneven density.
Some of the grain is so tight that color can't penetrate,
where other areas have soft grain that soaks up the stain,
causing an uneven, blotchy appearance.
Here's our darkest Liquid Oil Based Stain, Spiced Walnut, on Maple.
You can see how poorly it takes stain.
Additionally,
Cherry has a natural underlying reddish-brown tone,
which can affect your final color.
For Maple and Cherry use either RTM Stains,
Water Based Wood Stains
or Gel Oil Stains.
Here's our wildly popular Java Gel Stain compared to Water Based Espresso,
and RTM number 13.
Just look at the difference!
Our Gel Stains can work on Maple,
but water-based stains achieve show-stopping rich, vibrant colors.
Gel is the perfect choice for Cherry,
like this door with Nutmeg Gel Oil.
Alder is quickly becoming a favorite of the hardwoods
because it has such an appealing character.
The knots are smaller,
not as visible and considered an asset.
Take a look at these Alder doors with three of our recommended favorites:
Water Based Espresso,
Java Gel
and RTM water-based number 22.
Red Oak is one of the most commonly used hardwoods
and is the easiest of all of them to stain.
It takes color consistently and has great grain definition.
However, we recommend only using Liquid Oil
or Gel Oil Stains on solid Red Oak.
Water-based stain on solid Red Oak can cause excessive grain raise
but it's fine on veneers.
Let's talk about going over existing finishes next.
if you need to lighten your existing finish,
strip to raw wood first.
you have three options to change existing finishes if you use darker colors:
The first is Water Based Wood Stain used as toner.
Here's a maple door with an existing factory finish.
this door has been toned with Provincial Water Based Stain,
mixed with High Performance Flat,
one ounce per pint.
The second is Gel Oil Based Stains.
Here's a door with an existing factory finish,
and here's a progression of Java
with one coat
and two coats.
However, we prefer dry brushing two coats on as shown here.
The last is Water Based Stains using a progressive dry brush technique.
Here's the original finish
with one,
two
and three coats of Espresso Water Based Stain.
The next consideration is your preferred application method.
Water-based stains are easily sprayed
or applied by hand.
Oil stains perform better with hand application.
Do you prefer using oil or water stains?
Oil stains are combustible,
high odor,
solvent cleanup
and can require up to 24-72 hours to dry.
The benefits of environment-friendly water-based stains are
VOC compliant,
low odor,
water cleanup,
fast drying,
non-flammable,
rich vibrant colors with little or no color pull.
The choice of topcoat can create a small color shift as well.
Arm-R-Seal,
Gel Topcoat
and Enduro-Var
will amber and deepen gradually over time.
Water-based topcoats such as Clear Poly,
High Performance
and Flat Out Flat
have less effect on wood tone colors,
but may yellow over light colors such as Water Based Whitewash
and Gel White.
It's clear that water's not the future—it's already here
and General Finishes has all the water-based solutions you need for your next project.
General Finishes is dedicated to testing,
evaluating and advancing our water-based finishes
with the highest quality ingredients
and leading-edge water-based technology.
Learn more about these wood stains and other GF products at
GeneralFinishes.com.
General Finishes. We make tomorrow's finishes today.