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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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| "I have a solid walnut coffee table that has to be matched to a lighter colored dining table. Is bleaching the proper first step before applying the stain? If bleaching is required, what is the procedure to follow?"
From what you describe, I’d say yes, you may have to bleach it. At the store, you will find a two-part wood bleach kit containing two bottles of different liquids (lye and peroxide). Follow the directions on the package, and it will pull the color out of the wood. Make sure you do all your sanding first, since the bleaching action is fairly superficial, and it is easy to sand through back to darker wood. |  | |
| "I have been advised by my paint supplier to use a wood bleach kit on the stairs to remove the remnants of an incorrect color stain. I plan to go back with an oil based stain that will be quite dark. Would you agree?"
Yes, I’d say your odds of success are fairly high. However, after the wood bleach kit, wipe the raw wood with some fresh, full strength laundry bleach. The two-part bleach will de-color the wood and some of the pigment stain, while the laundry bleach will denature any dye that was in the stain. | | |
| "I am having new cabinetry built in my kitchen and I’m trying to learn how to know if what potential contractors are telling me is what will be best for the cabinets."
Ask the contractors if they are honest and knowledgeable. If they are, trust them. If not, go to someone else. This is a bit like asking how to know which car dealer to trust. No one can give you a yardstick that measures integrity or competence, but you can certainly look at other work they have done, and speak to their former customers. | | |
| "I have oak kitchen cabinets. In order to refinish, is it necessary to sand back to original wood? Can I strip with a chemical? Can I stain darker?"
Yes, you should go back to raw wood, and stripping with a chemical paint remover is a good way to do it. Once you get the existing finish off, you can stain the wood as dark as you like. |
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