How to Stain and Varnish Finish Wood Interior Trim
This guide will help you get a perfect smooth stain and a satiny varnish wood finish everytime on your interior trims.
Our method requires 3 days to complete, not many tools and no experience needed – just sand, stain, seal and finish. Any one of you can do this, its nothing super hard.
This method works well on a coarse-grained wood like oak, ash and walnut. Other woods like cherry, maple, birch, pine and fir require extra steps to achieve an even, blotch-free finish. Again this method is not hard but it does require some patience and finess. Doing it right the first time is the only way to do this, going back and try to fix mistakes are very hard and time consuming. DON'T FORGET THAT IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO GET BLEMISH-FREE FINISH.
PICKING THE RIGHT STAIN
- Most pros theses days would go with an oil base stain since it a lot more forgiving and way easier to apply correctly, avoid the "fast-drying" types of stain. You can dillute stain with paint thinner to ligthen the color of the stain, I've seen people mix it up to 50/50. If your going to mix your stain to obtain a lighter color, make sure to measure the mix to get the same color again. Always test out the stain on a scrap piece first. If your trying to match stain, its almost impossible unless you take a sample piece into a paint store and they will match it for you.
- You must also pick a varnish, better get the alkyd varnish instead of the polyurethane one. The polyurethan varnish are a lot more tough then the alkyd and very water resistant, good for like table tops and hardwood floors, but they are a lot harder to work with and less forgiving. Alkyd varnishes can actually be sanded if drips occur.
- You should use a sealer also before the varnish topcoat. This sealer as more solids in it making it easier to sand, perfect for a first coat, and the varnish also adheres better to a well-sanded, sealed wood surface.
STEP ONE – Sanding :
For a good finish stain, we need to have a good starting sand with 100-grit sanding sponge and/or sand paper. This is probably the most important step in staining, it will make it so that your stain is absorb evenly. You can also remove some of the imperfections in the wood. Make sure you get every tight spot, roughing up the entire surface. If the area is to big to sand by hand or the surface as deep damage, you could use a orbital sander for the job. A sponge works really well for most sanding situation. Always sand in the direction on the wood grain, and even if you don't think an area needs sanding, sand it anyway. Staining shows a lot of imperfections in the wood, so make sure the sanding is good before you start staining.
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STEP TWO – Clean Your Working Area : Even dust from your sanding could get into the stain and ruin your hard work. If possible do your sanding outside or in a different room. A clean working area will help achiving a perfect finish. If you have to sand in the same room that you will be staining in, you should wait from the dust to come down after sanding and vacuum it up. The furnace like to kick up a lot of dust at the worst possible times, I like to turn it off while I'm doing staining.
WARNING STAIN-SOAKED RAGS COULD EASILY CATCH FIRE IF LEFT IN A BUNDLE. SPREAD THEM OUT AND LET DRY BEFORE THROWING THEM AWAY.
STEP THREE – Apply The Stain And Wipe It Off Quickly :
The key to a perfect stain is to truly get the wood saturated, and then wiping it off evenly with a rag. First things first, start off by mixing the stain. Make sure to scrape up the bottom of the pale and get it all mixed up. The best way to apply the stain is with a brush, simply dip the brush into the stain and brush it on the wood. Don't be shy applying the stain, more is better. Once coated, wipe off the stain with some clean rags, working your way the same as when you brushed it. The stain should soak an even amount of time all accross the wood. Wipe off with a light and even pressure, and make sure to fold the cloth of that your using a dry clean piece of cloth for most strokes. If you leave streaks behind you need to press harder and use a clean piece of cloth. Use a dry paint brush to wipe the stain in the tight areas and crevices. Stain dries up quickly, so don't try to do to much at once, if the stain has sat for too long and has become sticky and impossible to wipe, apply more stain to often it up. Make sure to take a good look for brush marks and other types of marks that may need to be wipe better as it will show throught later on.
Making color corrections is the easiest when the stain is still damp, to lighten the color on an area of the wood, wipe it with a rag dampened with some sort of paint solvant. Let the staint then dry overnight before applying the finishing coats. IF THE GRAIN LINES ARE TO DARK IN COLOR COMPARED TO THE SURRODING WOOD, APPLY ANOTHER COAT OF STAIN TO GET A CLOSER MATCH.
STEP FOUR – Use A Brush To Apply Your Sanding Sealer :
Use a paint brush to apply the sealer, always apply using bursh strokes that go with the grain. Using a strong light like a halogen bulb, shine down on the surface to see any missed areas. After applying the sander sealer immediately "tip-off" the coat by stroking the entire surface from one end to the other, with long, light, overlapping bursh strokes, making the coat very even. Remerber to work quickly since the sealers do dry fast. If even after you"tip-off" you still see brush marks, it ok to leave , we will sand them later on. Always make sure to look for build up drips, witch should be smoothed out with a brush. Try to leave the wood flat when do the finish application and also while it dries. This will help minimize runs and sags, and could also level out some of the sealer, thus reducing the apperance of the brush strokes.
STEP FIVE – Sanding The Sealer Before Applying Varnish :
Once the sealer is all dried up, lighty sand the wood with 240- or 280-grit sanding paper or sponge. Don't sand to much as it is easy to sand thru the sealer and stain right down to bare wood. If that mistake happen to you, just apply more stain to even up the floor. You should know sand till the surface is uniforly "doll". If there are any shinny streaks or spots, they may require more sanding. Once done the sanding , vacuum the piece, and wipe surface with a tack cloth.
STEP SIX – Finish Up By Applying Oil-Based Varnish :
Use a paint brush to brush on the varnish, also using the "tip-off" techniques describe earlier. If you work area is really clean and dust free, and you did a really good job on sanding, you might be able to get away with applying only one coat. But if you got dusk specks, brush marks or any other kinds of imperfection, wait till the varnish is dry, sand and varnish again. Again make sure that whe you varnishing the room is dust free and also remember to wipe down your wood trim with a tack cloth. Then add another topcoat of varnish.
