Rich wrote:

I stained some new unfinished oak with Minwax wood stain. I applied one coat
and it is dark enough. Then I planned to apply Minwax Indoor/Outdoor
Helmsman Spar Urethane on top of that. What I want is a durable but shiny
furniture-like surface that is water proof. The problem is that I put the
Minwax wood stain on very lightly over 24 hours ago and it is still damp...
when I press my hand on it hard it will stain my hand in some areas. Is it
OK to apply this Spar Urethane finish now? The can said 8 hours. Its been
24.

Besides the other responses...

Oak is a very open-porous wood...particularly since you didn't wipe
excess off, the pores are holding fairly sizable reservoirs that are
very slow to completely dry and probably are being absorbed by the
surface as it dries as well...

A sanding sealer before staining will help in two ways--it will fill the
pores to minimize the difference in color (unless you really want that
porous look) and allow for a much smoother final finish coat as the
pores will be level w/ the surface after filling and the final buff
sanding...