Varnish over paint and stain

[PeterTorresani]

After adding a whole lot of color to our living room and kitchen by repainting the walls, my wife decided that the bookshelf no longer matched the room. She quickly repainted the bookshelf and used some standard oil based stain (Minwax) to give it some depth.

My concern: I think that the paint needs some protection from all of the rubbing of books, but I'm concerned with what varnish will due to the stain since it can't penetrate into the wood. Will I be safe with oil based varnish? Will water based work better? Any other suggestions?

We want to stay away from poly because of the yellowing affect.

Thanks for any help

[Bruce Gray]

I had a similar issue with some painted bookshelves, and I recoated them with a water-based polyurethane varnish, which has worked out well.

I'm generally not a fan of the water based varnishes, but in this case the water base was preferred because it's almost crystal clear and doesn't yellow the finish.

[PeterTorresani]

Thanks Bruce,

I've never used water based, and never heard that it was more clear than oil based. what brand do you use?

[Steve Schoene]

If I have this right, an orginally painted bookshelf was repainted in a different color, and then over that new paint some minwax stain was applied. What was original finish on the book shelf? What kind of paint was used? What colors are we talking about?

The binder in the Minwax stain is pretty weak, so you do probably want a coat of something. I would use shellac because of its quickness and ease of application. Books don't tend to stick to shellac, and shellac has no chemical effects that might affect book bindings or pages.

[PeterTorresani]

There is no such thing as "ease of application" when I get a paint brush in my hand :)

My neighbor has some left over water based poly and I have some extra blonde shelac, so I think trial and error will be my method of selection. I'll use the bottom of one of the fixed shelves.

To answer your questions: Original paint was white, now it is brick red left over from painting one of the walls (acryllic). I thought it was going to be ugly, but it turned out OK. It's actually just a temporary piece until I get around to building a solid cherry unit. Can you call 4-6 years temporary :)