Varathane Premium Wood Stain Gel

I bought this from the clearance area... not a good idea. It was clumpy and garbage inside. I would'nt recommend buying stain or paint that is in the clearance area, unless it is from the paint department area.

Le produit était périmé. Il ne s'étendait pas bien. Il y avait des grumeaux dans une huile claire.

Not nearly as easy to apply and at least 3x as long, with poor penetration and coverage. Do yourself a favour and use the Varathane gel in the can (oil based) that product is amazing!!

I usually use minwax oil based stain and decided to try this product for a chair I was refinishing. Spent 3hrs stripping/sanding and prepping the chair. The stain was easy to apply but dried very quickly and blotchy. The colour was also unevenly distributed in the tube. Bought Early American stain and the top of the chair looked dark reddish brown and the bottom a lighter brown. It dries so fast you get areas of buildup and smearing as you are working it in. I hated the look so took a wet cloth and just starting wiping the stain and it actually helped to even things out. Then used my minwax stain to finish it - looks great now! Won't buy this again.

Certain kinds of woods (e.g., pine) soak up stain unevenly, with some parts soaking up more stain and some less. The result is a blotchy finish. Gel stains are great because they don't penetrate the wood and go on evenly even on pine. I've worked with oil based gel stains in the past and didn't like the smell. This one is water based, so the smell is much less and you can work with it indoors. I used the gel stains for several types of projects such as refinishing some kitchen chairs, a front hall bench, and a dozen picture frames. I found it easier to apply the stain with a foam brush and then wiping off the excess with a shop towel. This product works fine on surfaces that won't get a lot of use. For example, the picture frames still look great after several years. But because gel stain only coats the surface (as opposed to penetrating into the wood) it has low durability. Any of the projects that get used regularly (kitchen chairs, bench) have noticeably faded. In the case of the stool, the stain has has been scuffed up on the top. This isn't really a complain against this product or get stains in general. You have to expect gel stains not to have a lot of durability because they don't penetrate. If you use it on surfaces that get a lot of use, you can try varnish as a top coat but I would recommend trying another kind of stain or another kind of finish altogether.