Mass Wood working

Petersburg MI working with gel stains

For the past several days, I have begun to stain the cherry panels and have finished prepping the solid cherry trim. For this phase, I had to take one whole day to de-dust the shop. When finishing, you need a clean environment.
I thought this would be a great opportunity to talk about gel stains. Gel stains are a different animal than water or oil based stains, and need to be treated as such. Gel stains came out a few years back when people wanted a "wipe on and its done" type of stain. What came out on the market because of that was gel stains, but theyre certainly not a one-coat-and-your-done type of stain. As a matter of fact, they are sometimes more difficult to work with than oils. In addition, cherry tends to blotch no matter what type of stain is used, so this is certainly a high maintenance stain job!

I begin by sanding down to no more than 100 grit. Cherry needs no more than that. Then I remove as much sanding dust as possible. I wipe the piece with denatured alchol to remove fine particles, and also to show any flaws. I put on the first coat using a swirl motion to get the gel down into the pores of the wood. Then I remove the excess going with the grain of the wood - like this:





Im able to do 1 sheet in an hour and 15 minutes, and have room in the shop to do 4 sheets at a time. I let the first coat dry completely overnight. Because there are some spots that are uneven and splotchy, I need to sand down the entire sheet(s) to even things out.
In the picture below, you can see 2 sheets - one sheet is sanded after the first coat, and the other is with a second coat of gel stain applied.



Below is a closer picture of the difference between a sanded side and a side with the second coat. Obviously, the more you can even out your coats, the better finish you will get.

There are 8 sheets that need a minimum of 8 coats each. Thats 64 coats, times 1.25 hours per coat = alot of time invested in finishing! This does not include the solid cherry trims that need 8-10 coats also! Remember though - dont rush!