Minwax Gel Stain for Interior Wood Surfaces, Quart, Aged Oak

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!

Worked for what I needed. I used this to paint laminate wood and it did a pretty great job. I did need to use a second coat on some spots, but that was expected. The color is a nice dark warm brown in the sun, but it does look darker in certain lighting.

This gel coat is fantastic. No need to sand off finish just paint right over, but its recommended to be smooth atleast first! Also great on bear wood. Easy to work with, doesnt drip too much, pleasant smell, dries pretty quick, nice medium gloss finish, and tough enough to stand up to general wear and tear. This is my go to for many house projects now.

When I moved into my house, we had these faux wood pattern on these labeled doors. I want a fan and one door we always look at because it is at our entrance and also visible from our playroom. I bought this gel stain to use on the door since it had the wood pattern engrained in it. It was easy to use. It dried very quickly in the door. I didn’t realize how quickly it would dry and then not be able to be manipulated for a more even finish. The color is pretty and for the most part I like how it came out but it takes a few days to cure at which the color faded, and like I said the stain ended up uneven. Overall it still did the job for me and it’s better than having the ugly white door previously there. I added a greenery wreath and it made a big difference in the look.I did use finishing wax when I thought the stain was dry and it took the stain right off! Be careful of the true dry time

I started looking for woodwork oopsies around the house and took no precautions prior to using this stain. My house has dark stained trim and cabinents and isn't new or even close to new (read, banged up here and there, random holes from objects long removed and gone and DOGS, dogs with demands and toenails to drive home the point) I wasn't looking for sheer coverage as much as I was looking to hide defects and wasn't going to try to be a pro- who has time or patience for that? Sadly not me. Anyway the results: My results were amazing when by all metrics this should have been an epic fail. The stain made me look like I was doing it right and I guarantee I did NOT do it right. I did it quick. I used a foam pad on a stick and went to town on the house. You can't tell where I did my "repairs" and where I didn't and that was exactly what I was trying to accomplish.

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).**

After a good amount of research, I purchased this product in Aged Oak color to makeover my basic white garage doors and give them a faux wood-look. If you’ve never used or purchased gel stain before, don’t be alarmed when you first open it and see that it is very thick, basically a pudding consistency - it’s supposed to be like this. Also, don’t shake it! Gently mix it with a paint stirrer avoiding making any bubbles. Of course stain looks a lot darker in the can than it goes on, as well.I did not prime the garage doors, but instead just cleaned them really well by power washing them and then scrubbing them with TSP Cleaner. I let the doors sit overnight to ensure they were completely dry. The stain does dry to the touch relatively quickly once applied so I don’t recommend using it outside on a windy day or in direct sunlight. I was able to do both garage doors as pictured with about 2/3 of one can, which leaves extra for touch ups. If you’re looking for a darker or more even color look, you may want to either prime first or paint the doors with a light brown or yellow paint, depending on the color you’re going for. This would help give it a more even color consistency when painting on the stain. You could also just do a quick coat with a cloth instead of a brush for a lighter color and then do a quick second coat with a chip brush. I used a Wooster stain paint brush for the application, but for this project, if I were to do it again, I’d probably use a cheap chip brush to get more brush strokes over the pattern in the door, but I just used whatever I had on hand. In hindsight, I should’ve just taken the half hour to run out and get the brush I wanted to use.All in all, I’d definitely recommend. Based on how this worked for my garage doors, I have no doubt this would work for just about anything across the board.