On 5/17/2012 8:55 PM, Rich wrote:
Leon wrote:

On 5/16/2012 8:14 PM, Rich wrote:
Have some cabinets that I'm replacing the Cab. Doors and Drawer Fronts
on. Cabinets and Faceframes are Oak stained and urathaned, That 70's Show
look. I'd like to stain the faceframes and side panels with a Java Gel
Stain or Expresso Gel, darker look. Then Gel the new doors and drawer
fronts to match.

I'm assuming I need to strip the urathane, but how do you deal with the
existing stain? Or will mulitple coats of gel cover the tight grain of
oak?

Thanks in Advance


About 6 months ago I went through this.

We live in a new home and the kitchen cabinets are actually maple with
an espresso stain. First glance they appear black but are really a dark
dark brown.

Anyway I built a large white oak pantry with natural and dark brown
stained wood to match the color of our existing cabinets.

I tried the normal oil based espresso stains and gel stains. They
simply did not darken the wood to anywhere close to what our kitchen
cabinets were.

The solution for me was to use General Finishes water based DYE stain.
Only then did I get the "DARK" color.


Experiment on scraps.
I used General Finishes Java Gel Stain. Actually after a few coats of the
Gel it looks pretty good. I'm now wondering what will happen with the new
doors and fronts. I do think the hardest part is getting the urethane out of
the pours of the oak in order to get the gel to penetrate the grain.

Varnish a scrap and then sand it and stain over it. Yo may not need to
get all of the finish out of the pores. And with a gel maybe less likely.


The Dye Stains are the powder dyes or are you getting the dye in a can. I
may give it a try if it takes less time and only one coat.

Yes, General finishes has it ready to go.

http://www.generalfinishes.com/retai...ood-dye-stains

One application is all you should need for a very dark finish. I used
"Dark Brown"

Here is the result of the Dark Brown, All wood is white oak, some
natural and some obviously stained with the Dark Brown dye.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb1121...ream/lightbox/


Keep in mind that the water based stain dye will raise the grain so you
may want to finish sand, dampen the surface with water and resand before
applying the stain. Again, test on scraps.


Beyond that the dye is extremely easy to deal with but use plenty of
tarps to protect against drips, it is applying water, drips are
inevitable, and wear gloves, it is a dye.