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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 acquired old custom made oak stained kitchen cabinets from the habitat restore. They are a dark finish. I would like to paint or stain this another color. How do I prepare these cabinets, and would it be better to paint or stain?
A: Better is whichever you want to live with, but I can tell you that it is certainly far easier to paint, especially if you are trying to go from a darker color to a lighter one. All you need do is clean the cabinets with mineral spirits or TSP on nylon abrasive pads, wipe them off with paper shop towels, prime with Zinsser BIN, then paint. One of the easiest paints to use, and one that will even work without primer, is the newly released Universal from Rust-Oleum. The other option is to strip the cabinets, hope that enough of the stain comes out to make them light enough for your tastes, then completely refinish. It is a far more costly and difficult path. If you have the choice, I’d suggest painting. |  | |
| Q: Is 180 grade sandpaper sufficient for absorbing the stain?
A: I like to do my last sanding with 180 garnet paper, by hand and with the grain. It leaves a slightly finer and smoother surface than 180 aluminum oxide and tends to make stain take more evenly. | | |
| Q: All throughout my house the wood is stained and varnished. I would like everything to be painted white. Can I use a primer then paint it?
A: Yes, but start by cleaning and degreasing the surface by scrubbing with mineral spirits or TSP on nylon abrasive pads. The pads will rough the surface enough so that you don’t need to sand. Use Zinsser BIN, a wide spectrum white primer, followed by white paint, or simply use Universal, a specialty paint that requires no primer. | | |
| Q: I recently purchased an unfinished birch wood trunk. Does the wood need to be pretreated before I’m able to paint a faux finish design using acrylic paint?
A: That depends on how long it has been since its manufacture, and how clean it has been kept. If it has been exposed to the air, I would clean the wood with mineral spirits on nylon abrasive pads, then sand either through the grits, if needed, or if it is already smooth, sand only with 180 grit garnet paper. Finish will not adhere well to wood that has not been recently sanded because exposure to air oxidizes some of the bonding sites on the surface. Once you’ve sanded, you may paint directly onto the wood with acrylic paint, or seal it first with Zinsser SealCoat, a clear primer. While it is not necessary on new wood, the primer will give you cleaner paint edges by minimizing how much the paint drifts due to being absorbed by the wood. |
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