Top coat on stained wood

[Dan Kopack]

I have built a hutch for a friend, made from white pine and stained with Zar cherry stain. I am now ready for finishing. I have used two General Finishes products in the past and been very happy but not on stained wood. I was going to put a coat of Seal-a-cell on first(maybe two) and then two coats of Arm-R-Seal. Am I going in the right direction? I am not trying to build an extra high gloss finish just trying to seal the wood and put a smooth finish on it. Thanks for your help, have received great comments on other subjects from the assembled group.

[John TenEyck]

If you used Zar's oil based stain I'm pretty sure it has a healthy does of varnish in it, so there's no benefit of putting Seal-A-Cell over it. I would just use Arm-R-Seal. Do a test on some scrap, whichever way you go, to confirm things will turn out as you want.

John

[Bennett Ostroff]

Assuming your stain is oil-based, you can go right to the arm-r-seal without a problem. Just let is dry for day. No need for seal-a-cell. If the stain is water-based, use dewaxed shellac before the arm-r-seal. Seal-a-cell is oil-based. Edit: Jinx, John.

[Dan Kopack]

It is oil based, thanks

[Dan Kopack]

Thank you for the comment