Site Search Results

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 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.

General Finishes offers a complete line of oil based, water based and wax products. Application techniques differ between oil based products and water based products.

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

Douglas Fir is a difficult wood to stain evenly. A 50|50 mix of your Exterior 450 stain color and Exterior 450 Clear would be a better choice for an exterior conditioner. Blotching may still occur even with this procedure.

After applying the conditioner mix, let it dry 2-3 hours. Allow more time in humid weather. Then a apply the stain color of your choice. Multiple coats will deepen the color.

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.

Hand Application of General Finishes Water Based Wood Stains

  • Always stir the contents well.
General Finishes Dye Stain

Toning is the process of adding colorant, either dye or pigmented stain into a top coat and then applying over an entire piece in order to subtly deepen the color. All of our stains can be used: Stock base colors of RTM, Water-Based Wood Stains or Dye stains. If you are new to toning, we recommend starting with Dyes stains, which can be easier to use as they only contain dyes and no pigments. 

Relevant Documents