Minwax Gel Stain for Interior Wood Surfaces, ½ Pint, Chestnut

I have used gel stain over painted furniture, unfinished wood and on previously stained wood. The coverage is amazing. This is something that goes on like paint. You can use a brush or staining pad. I have used both. You can put it on and wipe off excess or add on to make it darker. I love the color variation on this one. It holds up without even using a top coat. I am amazed at the things you can use with the gel stain. Very durable over time and use, quality is amazing and smooth finish. If you never used this before you will notice it is thick. You don’t have to stir much. Sometimes I don’t stir because it’s thick and the color is already there. It’s user friendly. I would choose gel stain over any regular stain. Another great product from Minwax. I do a lot of work on furniture finishing with stain and paint for my paid hobby. I love it and like to try different things.

Works great on pine wood, much better than traditional wiping stain.

This is my first time using gel stain ever, and I brushed it on over 40 year old painted wainscoting. I didn't use the wipe off method. Just used it as paint, but the brush made it look uneven like wood grain. I am very happy with the results so far. The color is gorgeous, and if applied liberally, it will cover near anything. It does have a heavy odor, which is consistent with an oil-based product. Not nearly done with the kitchen, but we're getting there! Excellent value. I have barely used any of this product and it has covered a large area so far.

This product works well used to stain my ceiling beams in my living room. The previous owners painted the beams white and it was hideous. We stripped and removed and sanded off most of the paint ourselves. The nice thing about gel stain is that it covers paint very well. I almost wish I wouldn't have spent over 200 hours trying to get the paint off first and so I didn't remove any paint from the center beam and just gel stained over it. The color turned out darker than I expected, I wish it was a shade lighter It still looks better than the beams being white and makes them look like wood. We're in the middle of remodeling ignore the construction zone in the photos.

I used this to stain my boring builder grade honey oak colored kitchen cabinets. Initially I found it difficult to work with, but I had never used gel stain before so I just had to learn to work with it. I cleaned the cabinets with TSP, then applied two coats of this stain and finished with Minwax Poly-Acrylic Top Coat in Satin finish. The first coat of stain I began to wonder if I had made a humongous mistake, but by the time I got the second coat on, it filled in all the random spots and looked really good. The stain does scratch off easily, so I think using a top coat is very important. Now that mine are sealed with several layers of the poly-acrylic I haven't had any issues with the stain coming off. This stain is very dark, anything beyond 2 coats may look black. I've had several people say my cabinets are black from pictures, but it is clear in the home that they are just dark brown. I needed 2 of these containers for 2 coats on the outside/inside cabinet doors, the cabinet trim edges, and the cabinet kick plates as well as the cabinet sides. I discovered that while my doors were solid wood, the sides of the cabinet boxes were veneer, but with this stain you can't tell they aren't solid high end wood. This is a great product!

Gel stain is the way to go! It’s much easier to “control” than regular stain. This brand is reliable and well known. This color looked good. I wanted a black look, but I didn’t want to use paint. This worked out great on my deck! It dried fast and only needed one coat. Wear gloves because it is hard to get off your skin!

I've seen a lot of tutorials on Pinterest for staining "ugly" oak cabinets using a "gel stain." Most of the tutorials were recommending using a "java" color. From my computer/monitor, I couldn't tell if I would love the color, or if it would be too dark. I like a rich brown wood, but I didn't want it to be almost black--which some pictures made it look. I decided to go with this hickory shade based on another reviewer who said the same (afraid to try Java), and who was happy w/this color. I will say, I've done 3 coats (takes about 2 days to dry in between coats) and it is finally the depth of color I wanted. This might be extra work, but I was scared the java would be too dark and too close to black. Some pics made it look almost like paint. This color is beautiful and gives it a nice brown color to your cabinets, getting darker with each application... but like a good stain, the grain of the wood still shows through (so it's not paint-like or opaque) and I found w/the grain of oak, it really made applying this stain practically fool proof. Some of my little mistakes of not wiping areas properly, look just like different parts of the oak grain. I decided to try it on my laundry room cabinets (figured if I messed up, no biggie... it's the laundry room not the kitchen) and figured if I loved it, I could try it in other rooms. Needless to say, I will by buying more and doing this on all my "ugly" oak cabinets, turning them into a dark and rich brown/hickory shade. **I will try to come back and post a picture/update if I can later on (don't have pics handy).**

You can paint it on anything and it covers everything. I even painted over the wood filler and the totally uneven worn finish on the table. It looks great with minimal effort. It is super easy to be neat because it is so thick and a little goes a long way. You can still see the imperfections in the wood unless you sand them away but the improvement is amazing. I did one good coat with Mahogany stain with a touch up coat, and three coats of Minwax 63333 Clear Polycrylic Water-Based Protective Finish Satin. It looks great compared to the original but you can still see any wood imperfections if the light hits it right. I found the fumes to linger and be a bit strong (although maybe I made it on too thick) so I would recommend good ventilation for about a week until the fumes go away.

The product is ok, it sticks to paint surface. But it dont look like stain paint and give a glossy paint look. For me it was not what i was expecting it to be.

This stuff is amazing, it even covers all that flat pack laminate furniture. I've used this to co-ordinate furniture in my spare bedroom that was different shades of laminate, I used a primer first so it could grip the surface. You would think the furniture was originally a set. Wish I could find and buy this over the counter in fit stores here in the UK.

works a dream. No need to put on a second coat. Its a shame I can't get the same again and in the UK as well. Brilliant product.

Great product!

I redid the top of a dining table and a wooden block that I am going to use as a plinth for a bronze figure. They both look fantastic and it was easy to use. I would definitely use again.