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| Leave it to the pro. Michael Dresdner, a nationally known wood finishing and woodworking expert, has answered hundreds of common wood finishing questions in Varathane’s Q&A library to help you successfully complete your project. Click on a link to the left for help and solid advice. |
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| Q: I’ve heard you can bleach wood. Is this beneficial and true?
A: It is certainly true that you can bleach wood. In fact, there are a number of different types of bleach routinely used on wood for various different reasons. Oxalic acid removes graying and iron stains, chlorine bleach removes most dyes, and two part wood bleach, which consists of concentrated mixtures of lye and peroxide will actually take the natural color out of wood and turn it white. Whether or not you see any of this as beneficial depends on how you want the wood to look. |  | |
| Q: I understand that I can scrub stain back out of wood using lacquer thinner, but I have already sealed it with waterbased polyurethane. Do I have to use paint remover to get that off?
A: Quite possibly, yes, but there is also a good possibility that scrubbing with lacquer thinner alone will take off the waterbased polyurethane, especially if it is still fresh. I’d try that first. | | |
| Q: I just had a bay window installed. I want to stain the seat of the bay window. This is my first staining project. I was told that I should use sanding sealer. I looked at the pre-finishing products on the net and have become very confused. Should I use the sanding sealer before staining?
A: Nope. Sanding sealer is not necessary for most finishes, and certainly never goes on before stain. Chances are you can stain the raw wood directly, unless it is cherry or one of the softwoods. In those cases, you will probably want to use wood conditioner prior to coloring with oil based stain or gel stain. You will not need wood conditioner for any other hardwoods. Incidentally, apply conditioner by flooding it on, wiping it off, and staining the same way, flood on and wipe off, while the wood is still wet with conditioner. As for stain, you leave only what has been absorbed by the wood. | | |
| Q: A customer of mine has kitchen cabinets on which they applied two coats of clear Watco 15 years ago. They never put any other finish coat over it. They now want me to clean the cabinets of dirt and grime and apply a fresh coat of Watco oil. What would you recommend to clean or wash down the cabinets with, prior to applying the new finish?
A: Clean the surface by scrubbing with mineral spirits or TSP on fine nylon abrasive pads. The solvent will remove any surface grease or oil while the pad lightly abrades the surface. |
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