DIY Gel Stain Tutorial

Have you ever wanted to try Gel Stain?! I have and I finally took the plunge!!! Here is a step by step how to on how to make your wood look like new!!! So I LOVE espresso colored wood and HATE yellow oak...that's just me. So when I found a bunk bed and 2 dressers for my boys on Craigslist for a steal that were ugly yellow oak and were stained and ugly, I hoped the gel stain would be an easy fix...and I was! So here we go! 

What you'll need: general finishes poly acrylic & java gel stain. You MUST get general finishes brand. I got mine on Amazon for the following prices

You will also need 6-10 men athletic socks. These can (and in my opinion should-save $) be old used ones. Just make sure they are clean. 

You will also need disposable gloves. I got cheap yellow kitchen gloves. But you will need as many pairs of gloves as you use single socks. So 6-10 pairs of gloves.

I buffed the wood with sanding block and just got all spots where the wood was uneven. I didn't sand the stains on the wood at all, just where the wood had something on it and needed flattened and smoothed. I then used cheese cloth to wipe off ALL dust. 

Here we go! 

This is before....,

I put a glove on each hand and a sock over the hand I'd apply with. Then dip in the stain and wipe on. 

Make sure not to leave gobs and to go the direction of the grain. 

Side note: this wood had the latexy coating and went on fine, on the inside of the drawers and the back of the dressers was raw wood and it soaked up the stain much faster and only needed 2 coats rather then 4. 

Here is after coat 1

Don't be discouraged if its streaky or not perfect after coats 1 & 2. It looks amazing after coat 3!! Let the gel stain dry 24 hours between coats. Do not cheat on this. I did do a 4th coat on the tops of the dressers, the faces of the drawers and the outsides of the bed posts just to get it really dark. Here is after coat 4 and before sealing it with poly acrylic. 

After the coats of gel stain let dry 72 hours. Do NOT cheat on this step either. I can NOT stress this enough. Let it DRY!!! Then using a sock apply light coats of the poly. Do NOT let it be globby. Leaving any white residue will leave a hardened white chunk on your wood. So be careful when working with any detail in the wood. Mine had no detail but I have worked with detail and poly before and you can ruin a project by not doing light layers of poly and leaving any globs. Do 2-3 coats letting each coat dry 24 hours between coats. You will end up with a BEAUTIFUL product that looks brand new!!!   

I don't have pictures of the beds yet as I am doing another tutorial in the future and you will see the beds then. But they all look this amazing!!! You can use this technique in cabinets, it furniture or anything with wood grain!!! Have fun! Enjoy! And comment with questions! We'd love to see your finished work as well!!!