America's Leading Manufacturer of Innovative Water-Based Wood Finishes
It's a wrap! General Finishes next round of tutorial videos are on their way! We will be releasing one per week for the month of November so stay tuned.
While Gel Stain can be applied over an existing finish, it was originally engineered for raw wood surfaces. We prefer applying the Gel Stain over a slip coat of mineral spirits instead of topcoat as shown in this video, "How to Apply Gel Stain to Raw Wood"
Gel Stain from General Finishes is home of the popular Java Gel Stain featured across the nation's social media for upcycling furniture and cabinets.
GF advises extra care and prep when applying any finish over laminate surfaces because they are specifically designed not to mar and therefore they are not very "sand-able", making adherence difficult.
In addition to this non-permeable surface factor, General Finishes Gel Stain is an oil-based product, and it is more difficult to obtain proper drying characteristics over a dense manufactured surface such as laminate. Gel stains, as all wood stains, were formulated to go over raw wood which has an "open" surface and can absorb some of the stain.
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.
For today's Transformation Tuesday, we wanted to share this project by Beth of Farm Fresh Vintage Finds.
Click on the first photo and follow along with this photo tutorial as we finish a walnut table with 1 coat of Java Gel Stain over Nutmeg Gel Stain. Completed with 3 coats of Gel Satin Topcoat. Table design by John Harryman.
Gel Stain gets its deep rich hue from a large amount of colorants. Seal the stain with a topcoat before applying glaze to prevent "color pull" when applying glaze.
Enduro Water-Based Tintable 2K White Poly
Enduro Water-Based Pro Series White Polyurethane
Enduro Water-Based Conversion Varnish
Enduro Water-Based Tintable 2K Clear Poly
Hard Wax Oil & Hardener
Gel Stains
Water-Based Wood Stain
Pro Image Flooring Topcoat
Jen Poly Brushes
Stir Stix
Ultraflex Softback Sanding Sponge
SDS: FRENCH Gel Stain JAVA Oil-Base 2023-10
