Ronseal Interior Varnish White Ash Matt 750ml

Product Information

If possible try the mixture on a waste bit of wood or an out of the way area to see what the finish is like. If needed, adjust the mix until you get the finish you want.

Staining over varnished wood without sanding can lead you to serious trouble with a blotchy surface. Firstly, always clean your piece thoroughly. Any dust or grime will prevent the stain from adhering properly. Varnish is also its own primer and undercoat, although in some cases it is better to thin the first coat with roughly 10% white spirit (for solvent varnishes) and water for water-based varnishes. This is particularly true if you are using a polyurethane varnish. In most cases it is also better to apply this with a lint free cloth and you are able to rub the varnish into the wood grain better than you could do with a brush. So, in this article, I’ve widely discussed can you stain over varnish and how to do that perfectly. So, let’s discuss each of the following steps one by one to know how to properly stain over varnished wood. 1. Clean The Varnished Wood

When you apply stain over varnish without sanding, the stain tends to pool in certain areas and not in others, leading to a splotchy appearance.

However, you need to sand a paint finish before varnish only if the finish is riddled with imperfections, dust, dirt, and bumps. Varnish has a transparent (colorless) finish and will highlight imperfections, dust, dirt, and bumps once it dries. Chalk Paint. You can apply varnish over chalk paint as the paint has a simple formula and doesn’t repel topcoats. But what if you’re looking at a piece of varnished wood furniture and thinking, “It would look so much better if it were a bit darker”? Apply 2-3 varnish coats over paint with a paint sprayer or roller. Wait until one coat dries before applying the next one. Water-based varnish takes around 6 hours to dry between coats, while oil-based varnish takes around 24 hours. Then, using a high-quality brush or a lint-free cloth, apply the gel stain in manageable sections, allowing each to dry completely before applying another coat.

How many coats of varnish should I apply?

Water-based varnishes have come a long way over the last decade or so and are now just as good or better than the traditional spirit-based varnishes used in the past. Excellent examples of modern day water-based varnishes include