gel stain problem

[Mike Steinhilper]

I know this better suited for the 'finish' forum, but there is nobody on it! Anyway, I used Olympic cherry gel stain on a nice little apothacary cabinet. The cabinet is cherry. Why cherry stain on cherry? Well, the wooden drawer knobs needed to match the carcass, and they are not cherry. It was a plan out of one of the mags, many of you have probably seen it. Anyway, the gel stain WILL NOT DRY! It has been close to three weeks, still rubs off with a white rag. Any advice? It's a VERY light application.

[Lee Schierer]

Sometimes stain stays gummy for quite a while. Try setting the item in the sun for a day and see if that helps. You could also apply a light coat of dewaxed shellac over the stain.

My suggestion would be to sand off the stain and get some cherry knobs from any one of the numerous places that sell wood knobs. Or find a friendly turner that will make turned cherry knobs for you.

Your cherry will darken with age, so even if the knobs are a bit darker than the cherry it will even out in a few years.

[John S Richards]

Gel stain does do that. If you are using a wiping topcoat it will come off a little no matter what you do. It should be fine to top coat. Try applying with a spray gun or brush for the first coat. That will seal the stain in and keep you from pulling it off the wood.

Been there, done that. :)

Good Luck,

John

[Mike Steinhilper]

I would rather not sand it down again... already went through that once :) Can I put a coat of shellac over it, or spray poly? what would you recommend?

[John S Richards]

Either will work just fine. I prefer shellac personally.

John

[Brian Hale]

Make sure it's Dewaxed shellac or your final finish make stick.

Brian :)