I applied Minwax stain on an interior door using a foam brush. I didnt
wipe off excess stain, however, thinking that it would be absorbed by
the grain. Needless to say, that didnt happen and now there are shallow
"pools" of dried Minwax on the door. I tried steel wool and a palm
sander to get this gunk off but neither worked. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

In article , MitchA
wrote:

I applied Minwax stain on an interior door using a foam brush. I didnt
wipe off excess stain, however, thinking that it would be absorbed by
the grain. Needless to say, that didnt happen and now there are shallow
"pools" of dried Minwax on the door. I tried steel wool and a palm
sander to get this gunk off but neither worked. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Varsol, or any other soft petroleum based thinner.
A trick I saw done once, the painter slapped on some more stain..waited
a few minutes, and it dissolved the stain underneath.... then he wiped
the whole mess off.

MitchA wrote:

I applied Minwax stain on an interior door using a foam brush. I didnt
wipe off excess stain, however, thinking that it would be absorbed by
the grain. Needless to say, that didnt happen and now there are shallow
"pools" of dried Minwax on the door. I tried steel wool and a palm
sander to get this gunk off but neither worked. Any suggestions?

Yeah, don't do that!

Don't know for sure, fortunately I never did that....I'd try rubbing out
w/ mineral spirits and see if could manage to soften/rub out at least
some of the excess.

I suppose this is one of the luan flat panel doors? Anyway, what is the
wood? Knowing that would possibly aid w/ some clues. If it is one of
the open-pored woods like luan or oak, for example, it's so deep into
the pores as to make sanding out, for example, impossible. Harder, hard
woods possibly can help...

"MitchA" wrote in message
...
I applied Minwax stain on an interior door using a foam brush. I didnt
wipe off excess stain, however, thinking that it would be absorbed by the
grain. Needless to say, that didnt happen and now there are shallow
"pools" of dried Minwax on the door. I tried steel wool and a palm sander
to get this gunk off but neither worked. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

The gunk will probably just gum up paper quickly. Try a card scraper to get
the majority of it off, then sand.

Definitely try the "slap more on" trick.
This is the same idea that you use on a dry-erase whiteboard. If the
marker gets dried on, simply color over it and the solvent in the ink
cleans off the old.
Don't try sanding, what will happen is if you concentrate the sanding
on the areas where the excess stain is, you will sand the stain and end
up with a nice depression where you sanded... Also, keep in mind that
the stain soaks into the wood. It isn't like paint that is just on
top. To remove the stain, you will have to remove all the wood that
has absorbed the stain.