Hi all,
I’m refinishing the top of my French Oak desk. It’s 100% solid oak with no veneer. I still have some sanding to do. Had planned on ordering General Finishes gel stain, but picked up the Varathane gel stain while getting some other stuff at Home Depot today.
I’ve always liked General Finishes products. Just curious if the Varathane gel stain approaches the quality of the General Finishes gel stain? The General Finishes stain is nearly double the price ($30 vs $17) of the Varathane, which has me wondering.
I want the best finish possible on this desk. If the General Finishes stain is really that much better than the Varathane, I’ll make the drive to Wood Craft and pick some up, or order from Amazon. However, if the Varathane is comparable in quality, I’ll use it.
As always, any information/advice is greatly appreciated.
Replies
I am pretty much sold to General Finishes products, I have use their Georgian Cherry gel stain quite a lot on all the mahogany in my basement and first had to mix it with their clear gel to work large areas, it was too thick. I recently used their water based stains and had the same problem, I diluted with water to get by and will get their retarder to finish the job. I would doubt you have to thin the Varathane product, which used to be what I had on hand many years ago. I suspect General put more solids in their products but they are both good products.
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