Will Gel Stain Work On Laminate Furniture

With the oak cabinets the grain was very evident post staining.

Will gel stain work on laminate furniture. To preserve the look of the wood grain on laminated furniture try using a tinted polyurethane stain. If you need some ideas on what shade of stain click here. The gel stain is thick like pudding not a liquid. My bedroom suite was currently white and wood laminate.

Clean your project with a scotch brite pad and a 50 50 mix of denatured alcohol and water. If it looks like a gloopy mess that. Don t get overzealous and start soaking your laminate with the stain. Apply first coat of stain to laminate furniture.

This is where you want to proceed with caution. See below forgive the oil stained garage. To test apply gel stain let dry for 48 hours and then try to scratch it off. If you are wanting to apply gel stain over a painted furniture piece you will use the same process as below for applying gel stain over stain.

If it comes off easily then it s not sticking so don t use it. Lightly sand the laminate with 150 grit sandpaper. Gel stain will not require you to sand the product to a raw wood finish. Gel stains occasionally work on laminate as this type of stain doesn t need to penetrate the material as deeply as traditional stain but gel stain manufacturers typically advise against it.

Sanding down to raw wood would be the very best practice but the following is the most common prep it only takes a few minutes first. It was the furniture kept in my childhood bedroom since i was 12. Open your can of gel stain. Yes it was perfect for a 12 year old girl s bedroom.

General finishes gel stain on knotty pine. Many ask if the gels can be used on laminate or plastic non wood surfaces. It matches the general finishes java gel stain and will cover in two coats. You want your cloth rag to be damp with stain but not wet.

Before you do anything take a before pic. You can apply gel stain to mdf stained surfaces and most painted surfaces including milk paint chalk paint and latex paint. Laminate is very smooth and shiny so you must sand or the paint and the gel stain won t stick. Prep work before using gel stain on furniture stop.

Yes i said bedroom suite. You could choose to use minwax polyshades to stain laminate or a similar brand. Fortunately for those with laminate cabinets gel stain works well on a variety of surfaces other than real wood allowing you to stain your cabinets without leaving them a streaky splotchy mess. Simply dip the rag lightly into the stain mixture and then squeeze out any excess drips.

I decided to stain the drawers and paint the body to match the dresser in my room. To fix sand the table lightly with 120 grit sandpaper and restain the table. Though how to paint and stain laminate was not one i considered. Apply as many coats of the mix as needed to obtain the desired color allowing 24 hour dry time between coats.

While gel stain does go on thick and sit on the surface of the wood i found that you can still see and feel the natural wood grain beneath unlike paint.