MinwaxPolyShades Wood Stain + Polyurethane Finish – ½ Pint, Antique Walnut, Gloss

If people purchasing this finish would keep that in mind, and follow the instructions on the can, most of the issues leading to bad reviews could be avoided. This wood finish product is not a stain, it is a tinted transparent polyurethane coat. Don't brush it on and try to wipe it off as you would a stain. It is not a stain. Don't expect it to penetrate bare wood in the way a stain does. It is not a stain. Do treat it as a varnish or polyurethane type of finish for the surface of wood. Use thin coats. Let it dry COMPLETELY before applying another coat. Sand lightly between coats if needed, especially if there are drips. Work fairly quickly and lightly brush the whole surface to even out a coat before letting it dry. If you're starting with bare wood, use a wood sealer first, or use a regular stain and clear coat instead of this product. The best use of this product is to change the color of finished wood without having to sand off the old finish completely. It will make a light color darker, but it will not make a dark color lighter, though the red-toned or yellow-toned colors can warm up a darker wood finish.I bought this because I'm in the midst of painting a spare bedroom. The closet doors date to when the house was built in the 70s. Their thin factory spray-on finish was looking dull and worn out, and the dark color was dated. The doors bore dings of hard use by kids and the finish had been marred by past by naughty male cats with territorial issues. I didn't have the budget to replace them, and while I thought about painting them white, I'd have to use primer and many coats, and do the rest of the woodwork to match, and that just didn't fit my timeline for having this done (though it's not out of the question for the future). All I wanted was something to freshen the color and brighten the finish. This product looked like just the thing. I chose the chestnut shade to add warmth to the dull dark wood. After sanding, I applied this with a disposable sponge brush. The directions on the can recommend a natural bristle brush, and that might work even better, but the sponge brush worked well enough. The closet doors took two coats. The bedroom door, which was in much better shape, looked great after one thin coat. The baseboards and window moulding took one coat, and the windowsill, which was weatherbeaten and bore lots of scratch marks, took considerable sanding and several coats to get a good finish. The result is woodwork with a nicer color and a fresh new shine. This is exactly the kind of thing this product is for, and it did the job very well.BE SURE TO VENTILATE THE ROOM WELL. This stuff is VERY fumy. I took the screen out of the window and put a large box fan in the window while I worked, which was adequate, but I still worked quickly and left the door to the room shut while the finish dried. Also, keep pets and small kids out of the room while the finish dries! Not only could the fumes be bad for them, but the finish will be sticky for at least five hours, and you don't want small handprints or clumps of pet fur marring your finish.

It works fine I guess. The main issue I have with it is how even the coat is. With stain, you brush it on, let it soak in for a few minutes, then wipe it off. Because this has polyurethane in it, you just have to let it dry. It removes a step from the process, but I ended up with drips and runs all over my project. I couldn't sand them out or scrape them off without leaving spots on the finish.Next time I'll just buy separate stain and polyurethane and just do it the old way.

I've used this a lot, on that fake wood design paper they coat rv cabinets with. It makes them look like a nice honey/maple coating is on real wood. Very beautiful outcome. You have to be careful to recheck your evenly laid work a number of times for a 1/2 hour at least after, the longer you go back to recheck though, the better, to see if there are small or large runs. This is because it is laid evenly to your eyes, but has a tendency to trickle some runs in time after. Once those runs dried, you have to chisel to remove them & reapply a small amount there more evenly. The 2nd coat we use this product with some paint thinner because it's such a good product the 2nd coat is needed more in some places than others. Slightly thinned, it works better & goes further on the 2nd coat. A real beautiful color. Polyurethane/Stain combination products are one of the best things ever made for they have very good tinting & coating qualities.

Honestly this is one of the worst stains I have used. In an effort to speed things along on these shelves I opted for the polystain combo and I REALLY wished I had not. I am by no means a pro at finishing furniture, but having some experience I'm not really a novice either. These peices were sanded and readily took normal stain well, as I've stained an identical piece just like it before. This was a monster to apply, it did not go on smoothly or evenly and was extremely tacky to the touch for days. We live in dry Oklahoma so humidity was not an issue and it was not applied too thick either. Just FYI if you make the same choice and go with this and find that it completely screwed up whatever you were doing... Citristrip will remove it fairly easily. Followed by some mineral spirits. I'd recommend a separate stain and then poly on top of you must, but there are so many other better options than this junk.

I have never stained before. I first tried the water based which went on more like paint and showed no grain.This item spread easily, good coverage, and applied nicely with a good brush.Note I am doing stairs, 70 years old, and this ole gal is completely satisfied!UPDATEIt dried totally streaked!! Took 4 coats to finally get a deep color and shine.LESSON LEARNED, WILL STICK TO A GOOD STAIN FOLLOWED UP WITH POLY

I built a workbench Last week so I decided to change the appearance. I'm not a professional at all. I used wood conditioner and then waited 30mins before applying this polyshades. Not bad at all. At first it didn't look too good after the final stain but you have to wait few hours for it to penetrate the wood (gigitty). This was only one coat.I really recommend you use wood conditioner because different types of wood have different types of pores and absorb wood stain very differently or you'll find out the hard way like the negative reviewers here. I used only half container of a $5 smallest wood conditioner I picked up from Walmart. I attached some before and after pics. It feels good to create something with your bare hands.

Okay, so maybe this is a no brainer, but I ran out of stain and had to buy an additional quart, Ive started and stopped never allowing more than 24 hours to pass between costs. For whatever reason, when I purchased this color is was a completely different color than before, I started finishing my project and had to stop everything because the colors were different... so now I have about five hours of new work to do in order to remove and apply a different stain 😭

Used this Poly Shades on several pieces of wood furniture...the Tudor shade looks amazing on darker wood and can also be used to darken medium shades of wood...just ensure you apply THIN coats! Do not use like paint, this must be used in very thin layers....you may need up to 3 coats...but I had great results with only 2 coats. This is truly a great product and can transform your wood furniture at very low cost...even old wooden kitchen cabinets can be totally transformed...mine were! My kitchen now looks like an old-style English kitchen! I have used it on dressers, a mirror frame, and even a Victorian-style wooden toilet seat! Product came quickly and I'm very happy with my order overall.

They are great gloss for Base Board or other item. The stain Gloss are cool more gloss, shining the prices might be too high but they are excellent

excellent product, great coverage.

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