General Finishes Oil Base Gel Stain, 1 Pint, Java

Buy this gel stain! We have light, builders grade banisters in our house that I have hated since the day we moved in and match nothing else in the house. I really wanted to refinish them but I was scared to wreck them. Well, after reading 4 million reviews, videos from everyone I could find, endless pictures comparing colors, I went for it and I couldn’t be happier. I ended up only needing 1 coat of the Antique Walnut and a few touch up areas. Here is exactly what I did. Prep work is key. Don’t skimp here.1. I cleaned the banisters with Krud kutter ( not the deglosser) and a green scotch bright pad and wiped clean. 2. Clean with a green scotch bright pad and and a good amount of Dawn soap and water. 3. Give a medium scrub down with mixture of 50 denatured alcohol and 50 water with yet another scotch bright pad. Let dry 2 hours. 4. Give a light sanding with a 220 grit sanding pad ( or 400 sheets I believe it what the company said). I used the 220 klingspor flexible sanding pad they recommended in one of the company videos. They are great! One pack was more then enough for the entire banister. 5. Vacuum up the dust really well. 6. Wipe with a damp cloth to remove more dust. 7. Wipe with an oil free tack cloth. I only needed one. 8. Tape everything off with green frog tape and use drop cloths. 9. Start staining! When staining I used these items. A paint cup, foam paint brush, short handled stain grade paint brush ( don’t cheap out), 2- 1” chip brush, extra paint brush, several terry cloth rags, odor free mineral spirits, a plastic cup, gloves, and a cardboard box to sit everything in as I worked.1. Stir the gel stain well and pour some in the paint cup. Pour and inch or two of mineral spirits in your plastic cup. Put all your supplies in your box and you are ready to go!2. Dip your rag in the mineral spirits and lightly wipe down the section you are going to work on. This is key! It allows you more time to work and blend. I worked in about 8-10” sections at a time. Try to find natural divisions as blending sections is the hardest part. By the time I got to the second railing I had realized that I could do the side first, then the top and it was easier to blend rather then all the way around the rail before moving on. 3. Dip the foam brush in the gel stain and brush on the wood. Don’t go crazy but use enough that it’s a solid color. 4. Give it just a few seconds then use the short handled stain brush to brush through the gel and start removing some color. Have your rag in your other hand with just a little mineral spirits on it. Dab your brush on the rag to remove the excess stain. 5. Use the chip brush to remove stain in groves and along edges. The chip brush in particular will make it look super streaky. Don’t panic! 6. Keep using your stain brush and the chip brush until quite a bit has been removed and you are sure you have destroyed it because it’s so streaky. 7. Take the extra paint brush, which you use dry, and start very gently brushing over everything. This will blend it all together. You should have removed enough product that you can still see the grain of the wood. It’s stain not paint after all. 8. When you are happy with it move on and wipe the next section with the mineral spirits rag and continue. 9. Let dry 24hrs. At that point you can very carefully touch up any areas that are too light. Give a wipe with mineral spirits, dap on a touch of color with the foam brush and blend. 10. Let dry and then seal with a top coat. I haven’t done this yet, as it’s still drying, but plan to use Arm R Seal semi gloss.Tips: -if you totally mess up a section you are working on you can remove all the product with a mineral spirit rag and start again. You will NOT be able to do this later or tomorrow so do it immediately if you aren’t happy. -If you work in too large of a section and the gel starts to dry or it’s too thick you can dip your extra chip brush in mineral spirits and gently brush over that area to remove some.- If you can’t finish in one day be sure to stop at a natural division line. You will not be able to remove the stain tomorrow or get it to blend in perfectly. I left some on one newel post and then when I started the next day I couldn’t get it off so that area is darker and is what it is.-Do NOT go back to a section you did earlier. You will mess it up!!! Wait until tomorrow to fix it.

I've been entertaining the idea of gel staining my cabinets for a long time, however I never thought it would come to fruition until we decided to change out our kitchen countertops, floors, backsplash. I was thinking on replacing the doors/drawers and just painting it white, however the budget was already creeping up with other expenses and I feel my existing doors would look better as a dark espresso moreso than white. I've read the reviews, read questions/concerns, viewed many tutorials, etc and decided to pull the trigger. I would say our kitchen is on the larger side that includes 25 doors, 15 drawers, u-shaped with a large island. Overall I am happy with the product, outcome and it lived up to the hype. I knew it would require a lot of time and work, but if I could go back I would probably just hire someone. The amount of time it took in total could have easily been paid off by a professional and more if I used what I feel my time is worth based on what I can do to supplement my source of income through other means. On top of that I did sections of it before our kitchen demo/install and after. Since I am away from home for work10-12 hrs per day M-F,I could not be as efficient as I would have liked. I have oak cabinets stained walnut that were about 10 years old.I took steps similiar to many others, but broke it down into 3 sections of the kitchen since it was too large to get down at once. Prep time was probably the most tedious part that included- 1) Empty cabinets, 2) clean cabinets (I used krud kutter), 3) sand cabinets (I tried various grits and found 220 grit to be perfect lightly by hand; if I could go back I would have used a sander), 4) vacuum/wipe down cabinets, 5) tape down areas as needed. Imagine doing this 3 times. I used the sock method (with two non latex gloves). I just bought cheap socks from target/walmart I believe. I also had a small brush and sponge brush. I would the small brush was a lifesaver for the small crevices and corners. I did 4 layers of the Java stain in total. I waited 48 hours first the first coat to dry and 24 hours for the rest. I was expecting some streakiness, but was a little concerned after seeing it on the 3rd coat. 4th coat was the key winner. I think part of that is not optimally preparing some of my surface areas; poteintially due to different amount of protective coating found in different areas of my kitchen. Also the area above my range was probably not cleaned as well as it should have been. I did all my doors/drawers in the garage and numbered each one. I did not sand inbetween coats. After the final coat the stain was beautiful. Even the floor, granite installers, contrator was impressed with the work. The satin gloss is very subtle. I was damn impressed.Then came the clear coating. I waited an entire week before applying it. I then very lightly sanded with highest grit sanding sponge I could find (I believe it was 220) and wiped the dust down. I used wipe on with rag/sock and sponge brush. I found all methods to work great. Very easy to go on and gives you a lot of wiggle room. I initially purchased the GF Gel Top Coat in Satin. http://www.amazon.com/GF-Gel-Topcoat-Satin-Quart/dp/B001F7R320. I did 3 coats on my island and a standalone cabinet and it came out great. It also whitstanded through the demo believe it or not. The satin sheen was similiar to the Java satin sheen and if anything you could see the grains of the oak cabinets a little more. I did not notice it enriching the color significant either. It kept it pretty consistent. I was very happy about the results, but I decided to try another product due to the high VOC content of the top coat (wife is pregnant and insist to use part of the kitchen). Since this was still 1/4 way through I had to be reasonable and ended up purchasing a non-VOC top coat off in satin from another website. This is when it all went downhill. I didn't realize what type of skill is needed to apply a top coat, until I purchased this. It made me realize how good the GF topcoat was. My cabinets looked horrible. I should have tested it out first. It was 10x more diffiucult to apply and my cabinets not only looked streaky, but their satin looked more like semi-gloss. It also darkened the cabinets noticably more compared to the original coating. I thought I ruined my kitchen. I decided to do more research and found that the most important coat is the last coat. I learned better technique and tools and redid a large portion of my kitchen. Luckily my new technique did wonders and I was able to coat it streak free and the sheen was also a lot less subtle for some reason. Possibly due to putting it on thinner and I made sure I mixed it very well. I did 3 coats total.The end result came out great despite the scare. I ended up using 2 quarts and still have a little left over. It took me about 6 weeks solo to do my large kitchen, working full-time and other priorities that I could not push back. Like I mentioned if I could go back I would have just hired someone, but that is only because I can supplement my income in a lot less time I spent doing this project to just hire someone. I think that there are so much variables to consider before just doing it so do your research, be patient and trial and error. Everyone's surfaces are different; different wood, coatings, dirt, details, etc. So understand the optimal way to prep for your actual surface. I also think technique and having the right tools plays a role especially if you have a more challenging surface such as a door with all types of crevices, details, corners, etc. Too me that was the most difficult part was because of those challenging areas of the door. So my two biggest tips would be good preperation for your project and learning the proper technique/tools to do the job. Oh yeah and patience too.

We bought 1 pint of the java gel stain color for our solid PINE wood. It did not disappoint! We only did two coats! I love the hint of red this gives off and it matches our floors! Great buy! I'm planning on buying another pint for our dining room table top too! A little goes a long way you do not need alot, especially the darker the stain!

I cannot say enough good about this product, it is easy to work with, easy to undo if you make a mistake and looks amazing!! Yes you will need to poly it but not right away. We have done 2 layers of this with Java and Black to create a warm black and my cabinets have turned out amazing. Yes you have to sand, the more you do the more set in the product gets but it is not a true stain so on bare wood you might (as I did) put a light coat of wipe on poly in order to generate an even finish and color. On prestained wood, definitely sand and then wipe, condition and then apply product to desired color. I recommend layering as opposed to mixing as they dont mix well, then apply poly but all steps are required for this product to remain durable. Without poly it chips off.

Geeral Finishes Gel Stain products are superlative. I have used it on cabinets, tables, and stair treads and the color is outstanding. It is easy to apply and wears like iron.