Home Depot Unfinished Furniture

how to stain unfinished cabinet doors withgreat results one of the most important questions when stainingunfinished cabinet doors is the equipment you will use and the quality of that equipment. the top-quality spraying equipment used byfurniture manufacturers is almost never available to the home owner replacing his kitchen cabinetdoors. so let’s rule out the finishes that requirethat level of equipment and concentrate on the finishes that don’t. removing those finishes from your list ofoptions doesn’t really reduce the quality of the finish you can achieve, it only increasesthe time required to complete the project.

large furniture manufacturers need to buildhundreds (sometimes thousands) of pieces each day just to breakeven, so they simply can’tafford to wait for stains and lacquers to air-dry. they use stains and lacquers designed to dryquickly under ultra-violet lights or in high-tech drying ovens, the main purpose of their fast drying processis not to achieve the best possible finish; it’s to achieve an acceptable finish inthe shortest possible time. now let’s take a look at some finishes thatdon’t require any expensive equipment, and will produce a finish that meets or exceedsthe quality of fine furniture.

the easiest to apply, most commonly availableand, in my opinion the best stains and lacquers are in the minwax lines. they are sold by all the big-box stores andwill produce excellent results in most woods. i say “most” because maple and, to a lesserextent, cherry are difficult woods to stain. when unprepared maple is stained it becomesblotchy, with some areas looking darker than other areas of the same board. so how do you reduce the blotching with darkstains on maple? if you are going to use a wood stain you willneed to pre-treat the wood with something to limit the penetration of the stain.

the cabinet doors will need to be treatedwith a sealer to limit stain penetration. minwax pre-stain wood conditioner is one;another is dewaxed zinsser sanding sealer cut with denatured alcohol. a google searchwill produce additional options. always experiment with your sealing and stainingin scrap wood and not your new unfinished cabinet doors. now we’ll look at some of the easier woodsto stain. oak is probably the easiest wood to stain,and the other woods range from easy to moderate. minwax makes a large selection of wood stainsfor all wood types, but for this example i’ll limit the discussion to oak.

most unfinished cabinet doors will be finishsanded to 180-grit. this is the industry norm and is a good compromise for all wood types. while some cabinet makers will re-sand to220-grit and some to 150-grit, well over 90% find the industry standard 180-grit to beideal. the most popular stain used on oak is minwaxgolden oak. just shake the can in case the stain has settledthen apply the stain with a brush or rag. minwax says to let the stain sit on the cabinetdoor for between 5-minutes and 15 minutes. i always go the 5-minutes, and then wipe theexcess off. wait 4 hours and if you want the stain tobe darker, apply the stain a second time.

don’t sand between stain applications. limiting the soak time to 5 minutes preventsthe stain from soaking too deeply into the wood pores. when the stain soaks too deeply it tends toseep back out for hours, which makes you wipe-off the excess again and again. after you have the stained look you want,it’s time for the lacquer. there are several choices and minwax offersseveral. i have had excellent results with fast drying polyurethane. remove any dust from your new cabinet doorswith a soft cloth and lay the door flat.

open your polyurethane can (i don’t recommendspray cans for this project) and gently stir the poly. try and avoid introducing bubbles;that’s why poly is never shaken. now you are ready to brush-on the first coat. this is one of those times where you don’twant to buy the cheapest brush in the store. you don’t need the $20 brush, but avoidthe 99-cent special that will leave hair in the finish. start by brushing on a very lite first coat.let it dry and very lightly sand with 220-grit. you don’t want to sand through the lacquer;this sanding is just to smooth any tiny bubbles that may have formed.

now brush-on a second coat, let it dry andgently sand again. if a third coat is desired, just follow thesame process. if you will be applying the poly coats within24 hours, you can avoid cleaning the brush by placing it in a ziplok bag to keep it fromdrying out. once you start staining and lacquering itbecomes easy and even simple. there is no need to hire a professional. you can do this!

Home Depot Unfinished Furniture