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Water-Based Pre-Stain Conditioner is a formula similar to our water-based stains without the colorant. Before applying a water-based wood stain, use General Finishes Pre-Stain Conditioner Natural to control blotching on hard-to-stain woods, such as maple, pine, and cherry.

Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner with an oil-based stain is designed for use before staining new, soft, and porous wood surfaces, such as aspen, cherry, birch, poplar, or pine.

Maple is one of the most difficult woods to achieve a dark, uniform stain color on because it is a dense, closed grain wood and often absorbs stain very unevenly. General Finishes Gel Stains or Water Based Stains usually will perform very well because they are more topical than traditional liquid oil stains, and contain more colorants. 

Water-based Dye Stains penetrate deep into the wood to beautifully magnify the grain. This low VOC stain will provide your project with more depth and color vibrancy than any other wood stain.

General Finishes Water Based Stains have superior qualities over oil-based stains. Their high-quality pigments produce rich, dark, uniform colors on hard-to-stain woods like maple and pine.

There are several reasons to choose Dye Stain. Here are a few.

Dye Stain Reducer is the clear base we use when manufacturing General Finishes Dye Stain and can be used to make custom Dye Stain colors and for toning.

You can design your own custom glazes, stains, washes, and varnishes with General Finishes intermixable water-based products. **Do not mix General Finishes Glaze Effects with General Finishes Water Based Stain (including Pre-Stain Natural) See tips and recipes below.

For all of the following mixes, GF recommends the following two steps:

GF's Exterior 450 Stains are low VOC premium quality, exterior pigmented water-based wood stains designed for outdoor projects with vertical surfaces such as garage doors, entrance doors and furniture. Can be applied to wood, MDF, and fiberglass.

Putty comes in two forms, pre-colored or as a stainable wood filler designed to fill minor imperfection such as nail holes, cracks, and gouges in the wood surface. Putty will display stain a bit differently than wood, so it is not a "perfect" fix, but a good one.

The goal is to get the best possible color match to either the color of the raw wood or the color of your existing finish.

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