How to Stain and Varnish Wood
Staining and Varnishing wood is an excellent way to produce high quality woodwork for a home or other wood project. Not only does staining add colors and tints to the wood, but varnishing also seals the wood from moisture damage. This ensures long lasting beauty to your woodwork. Here's how to stain and varnish wood. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Wood
- Stain
- Varnish
- A sander and sandpaper
- Cloths for staining
- A brush for varnishing or spray cans of varnish
Instructions
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Pick out the wood piece that you'd like to stain and varnish. There's virtually no limit to the type of wood you can use. Oak, maple, mahogany, pine, and aspen all look nice stained and varnished. You'll want to lightly sand the piece of wood with a finer grit sandpaper. Perhaps something greater than 200 grit. This will remove any rough spots. Wipe off the sawdust or use an air compressor to blow off the dust.
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Choose the color that you would like your piece of wood or trim to be. There are virtually limitless possibilities here. At most home improvment stores, such as Lowes, Home Depot, or Menards, you can actually have custom colors of stains made. Sherwin Williams also offers these services. Or, if you're not too fussy, you can simply choose the stock colors of stain off the shelf. There are plenty of wood samples in the stores to help you make your decision.
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Once the stain is mixed and ready to go, open the can. Take a soft cloth and dip it in the stain. Then wipe the piece of wood with the stain filled rag. Apply liberally to the piece of wood to ensure that you've not missed any spots and filled all of the grain of the wood.
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Take a dry piece of cloth and wipe the entire area that you've stained. This remove any excess stain and ensure a consistent coverage on the piece of wood. Allow the stained piece of wood to dry for 1-2 hours (this may vary upon humidity and air temperature).
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Select a varnish to use. Gloss, semi-gloss, and satin are some choices for finish. Look at the samples in the stores to see the difference. You'll also be able to choose between oil base and water base. I recommend using water base for most applications because it dries faster and clean up is easy. Just use water!
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If you've chosen a varnish that needs to be brushed on, open the can and get your brush. Apply a light coat of varnish to the stained piece of wood. Assure that there are absolutely no runs or drips. It's much easier to get the drips out wet than dry. Sometimes, using a foam brush can ensure a smooth finish.
If you've chosen to use spray cans for varnish (my personal favorite), shake the can well and begin spraying. The key here is to apply light thin coats.
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After each coat has dried, lightly sand or steel wool the wood. I like to use 0000 steel wool. This will make the wood smooth and remove any imperfections in the varnish. Repeat the varnishing and sanding for 2-3 coats.
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Tips & Warnings
It is typically recommended that the first coat of varnish be a sanding sealer type varnish. After that, apply regular varnish.
Please stain and varnish in well ventilated areas or in the outdoors. The fumes can be toxic.
Resources
- Photo Credit AllentheRD
