Varathane 368035 Less Mess Wood Stain and Applicator, 4 oz, Golden Oak

Very convenient for small hobby projects and a quality stain. Easy to use and coats nicely! The one modification I would like to see made would be a pointed applicator tip allow covering corners on projects. I used a small paint brush to get into the corners. Other than that I would highly recommend buying the product.

Although the “after” is still wet, I am incredibly pleased with the results and ease of the product. I was concerned that the color would not be dark enough to fix this laminate on our tables, but it definitely exceeded my expectations. I hand sanded the tables prior to applying and ensured that it was clean before application.Love that it is an all-in-one product and came out thicker and more pigment than expected. I did apply multiple coats and feel like it will do the job. While wet, it does have sticky texture but worth the value so far! I feel as if our tables are new!

This is good for very small jobs. It is a little faster than the scratch repair sticks you get at a hardware store, but it still takes a long time to apply the stain. So I wouldn't use it on anything other than a very small job.

This worked great on my honey real oak floors to cover up some water damage, natural fix!

The gray stain is really a nice light color, so layering the stain is completely doable.The sponge applicator was the reason I purchased it. I thought it would be easier on my hands and less messy. The first pass tore the sponge. I ended up working with a detail brush for the small areas. I ended up dumping it into a empty container and using a rag for the rest of the piece. Disappointed in the applicator, but the stain itself is easy to work with.

Had to stain some wood pieces for a project I'm working on. I basically never work with wood and didn't want to end up buying a bunch of supplies I'd never use again, so this seemed ideal. It was not. Honest to gosh, I cannot imagine a possible reason to buy or use this product. If someone gave it to me for free I wouldn't use it. Heck, I PAID for the darn thing and went out to buy something else so I wouldn't have to use it anymore! Let me lay out the issues, as I see them:1) The squeeze- You have to CONSTANTLY squeeze it, at almost full muster, for many minutes at a time (depending on the size of your piece). It is physically exhausting using this product.2) The time- It took so much longer than it needed to. I had 7 wooden slats that needed stain applied and it took over an hour to get about halfway to complete. That's not counting the hours of drying between coats. To be fair, I was looking to turn these things black, so it needed quite a bit of coverage, but the application is so ridiculously slow and clumsy.3) The coverage- As I kind of alluded to above, the coverage was not good. At least partially because I had somewhat rough wood and partially because I needed it DARK, but even so, I'd applied 2 coats on each side and still needed at least a couple more.Using this product was so bad, that at this point, 2 coats in and realized I had at least another day of application and drying ahead of me, I just went to the store and bought the smallest can of Minwax liquid penetrating stain they had. I grabbed a cloth, dipped it in the can, and finished these things to perfection in 10 minutes. Easy, peezy, lemon squeezy.There is no possible reality where paying $10 for this "less mess wood stain applicator" and squeezing your forearms into oblivion, applying MANY coats, over the course of days, only to end up with subpar results, is a better option than buying a $10 can of stain, tearing up an old shirt, and finishing the job in 10 minutes, with stellar results. The ONLY possible use case for this product is to recommend to a buddy as a trick to pay them back for a time they wronged you. May gosh have mercy on your soul.

Love that I found this stain in a handy squeeze bottle. I do string art and perfect to stain the pieces of wood

We have some beautiful expensive furniture that had some scratches/scrapes. The color is a grayish green color. I looked for a long time to find something that would cover up the scratches and scrapes. I am thrilled with my purchase. The applicator is easy to use. The stain flows easily without dripping through the sponge. I was able to complete all of the touchups on 4 pieces of furniture in a timely manner.