I made a couple of plant stands for Mothers day using a gel stain on the
frame. For the top and side panels I used hard maple and want to leave
the maple as white as I can but still have some kind of water resistant
finish. So I want to use a water based poly as the finish. Does anyone
know if I will run into a problem using Minwax water based poly over
General Finishes gel stain? Also will the water based poly raise the
grain of the wood that has been stained? Any better ideas on the finish?
Might this be a good project to learn about shellac?

joed wrote:
I made a couple of plant stands for Mothers day using a gel stain on the
frame. For the top and side panels I used hard maple and want to leave
the maple as white as I can but still have some kind of water resistant
finish. So I want to use a water based poly as the finish. Does anyone
know if I will run into a problem using Minwax water based poly over
General Finishes gel stain? Also will the water based poly raise the
grain of the wood that has been stained? Any better ideas on the finish?
Might this be a good project to learn about shellac?

The water based poly is OK over the General Finishes stain. Yes, it
will raise the grain unless you seal with shellac after staining and
before applying poly. I work with this same combination freqeuntly.

joed wrote:
I made a couple of plant stands for Mothers day using a gel stain on the
frame. For the top and side panels I used hard maple and want to leave
the maple as white as I can but still have some kind of water resistant
finish. So I want to use a water based poly as the finish.

Okay.

Does anyone
know if I will run into a problem using Minwax water based poly over
General Finishes gel stain?

The bottle/can that the stuff comes in will speak volumes.
Conventional wisdom says oil over oil, though.

Also will the water based poly raise the
grain of the wood that has been stained? Any better ideas on the finish?

Oil-based poly? Oil? I'm putting some Watco Danish Oil on a project
right now--my first time with the stuff, but I like it berry mush so
far.

Might this be a good project to learn about shellac?

Plant stands mean water. Shellac doesn't like water too much.

-Phil Crow

Shellac is often suggested as a barrier coat between finishing steps.
Zinssers Seal Coat is DEWAXED shellac with a 3 year shelf life and is
available in Qt cans. Waxy shellac can be a problem with some finishes.

"joed" wrote in message
g.com...
I made a couple of plant stands for Mothers day using a gel stain on the
frame. For the top and side panels I used hard maple and want to leave the
maple as white as I can but still have some kind of water resistant finish.
So I want to use a water based poly as the finish. Does anyone know if I
will run into a problem using Minwax water based poly over General Finishes
gel stain? Also will the water based poly raise the grain of the wood that
has been stained? Any better ideas on the finish? Might this be a good
project to learn about shellac?

Yes you can put a water based varnish over an oil based stain. It probably
will raise the grain. An oil based varnish will not. IMHO using a MinWax
varnish is chancy. I would go with a General Finishes varnish also,
Arm-R-Seal.