Staining oak and using spar urethane
 

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.

What kind of stain, oil or water? How did you apply it?

Except occasionally for a gel stain, I have never had to wipe and have never
had it not dry in a few hours; but maybe you are using a stain I haven't
tried, or really splashed it on.

"toller" wrote in message
...
What kind of stain, oil or water? How did you apply it?

Except occasionally for a gel stain, I have never had to wipe and have
never
had it not dry in a few hours; but maybe you are using a stain I haven't
tried, or really splashed it on.



The stain is oil based. I applied it with a foam brush, very lightly.

"Rich" wrote in message
news:FKZEd.729$_d4.452@fed1read05...


The MinWax Wood Finish can says "Remove excess stain with a clean cloth.".
So does that mean the wood is still damp because I was supposed to wipe
the
stuff off?

Is this right:

1. Apply a coat of stain to the wood

2. Wait 15 minutes and wipe excess stain off with something like an old
t-shirt

3. Wait 8 hours, then use the Spar Urethane

I guess I forgot step #2 ???

Wipe it down, paint it tomorrow. I used the Spar varnish on a couple of
outdoor rockers. Give them three coats and then one coat about every four
years.

When it says to wipe it off, you should do so. For one thing, it will help
even out the color. Other questions: what is the temperature? what is the
humidity? Read what the directions say.

Steve

"Rich" wrote in message
news:tYZEd.732$_d4.721@fed1read05...

"toller" wrote in message
...
What kind of stain, oil or water? How did you apply it?

Except occasionally for a gel stain, I have never had to wipe and have
never
had it not dry in a few hours; but maybe you are using a stain I haven't
tried, or really splashed it on.



The stain is oil based. I applied it with a foam brush, very lightly.

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...

Rich wrote:
....
I think the problem is I'm doing this in my garage with no air circulation
and it is very humid, been raining for the past 3 days.

Think? :)

Duane Bozarth wrote:
Rich wrote:
...
I think the problem is I'm doing this in my garage with no air
circulation and it is very humid, been raining for the past 3 days.

Think? :)

Tough going but you do have to consider weather - rain or high humidity -
when varnishing. Even if you were to get the thing varnished and dried
every time it rained or the humidity got high the varnish is supposed to
soften up, too.

Wait for dry weather. Do the varnishing in a dry heated place. I'm not
sure how much dust would be kicked up by a fan so maybe that wouldn't be a
great idea but you hafta have dry and relatively warm.

And I do try to remember to do a scrap or two with the same steps of
satin/varnish/shellac/whatever as the more important finished project. Then
I can test if going o to the next step is a good idea.

Josie