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In our newest video Chris Adams and Tom Monohan of General Finishes demonstrate how to update your existing cabinets with GF Water Based Wood Stain and Dye Stain with a technique called toning. Toning does not require any messy stripping or sanding.

In our newest video, Chris Adams and Tom Monohan of General Finishes show you how to apply GF Waterbased Topcoat to a bench. 

The most critical part of finishing a piece of furniture happens before you open a can of stain or paint - it starts with the sanding. Sanding is critical to creating a smooth surface. Use the following sanding sequences for new wood:

PAINT

For wood that is going to be painted, use 120-grit, followed by 150-grit.

There are four benefits to using sanding sealer as the first seal coat prior to topcoat

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.

Our recommendation to fix white cabinets that have yellowed is to do a thorough sanding and precleaning and recoat with the following products:

Vinyl or paper veneers can be often found on the end returns of lower price-point cabinets. We cannot guarantee that our paints will adhere well to a paper veneer - we have no idea what the actual material is or what adhesives were used to apply the veneer to the surface. The resins and additives in our paints may break down the adhesives used for the veneer.

And Milk Paint does NOT adhere to vinyl.

It is normal to see a bit of stain on the brush when applying the first coat of topcoat. Topcoats often pull a bit of color on the first pass, but good preparation will minimize this.

To prepare open grains woods such as raw Oak for a water-based stain, we recommend sanding with 180-grit followed by no more than 220-grit sandpaper.

We love this step-by-step video by OrganizedClutterbug about how she used General Finishes Gel Stain to refinish her kitchen cabinets! Please note, this video was not created by General Finishes, nor is it our professional recommendation for application method, but it is creative!