Brush stain over gel stain

When you brush it on top, the solvent in the stain will take up some of the previous gel stain coat…assuming they are both oil-based with mineral spirits for a solvent.

A few approaches…

1.) Use a water-based stain or water/alcohol dye on top.
2.) Get a can of spray shellac (which will be dewaxed) and seal the gel satin first. Then, use anything you want.
3.) Spray a stain on top…it’s the brushing or rubbing that can mess up the undercoat.
4.) Brush the oil stain on top, but with a light hand, not stopping to fix the work. (Bad choice, but it can be done).

If it were me, I would seal with shellac and then figure a way to spray the stain…perhaps with an aerosol with the color you favor. After that, spray with one more coat of shellac and then brush on your choice of film finish.

When sealing with shellac, it doesn’t take much…just a uniform thin coat that will dry in like 15 minutes.

-- jay, www.allaboutastro.com

BTW, one of the most frustrating aspects of finishing is taking a pigment stain, like that gel stain, and wiping or brushing on anything on top that uses the same solvent…whether this is another stain or a film coat doesn’t matter. Shellac is wonderful for sealing between each transition.

Test everything on a practice board first. Try it without the shellac and watch the rag pull up the dried undercoat, smearing it all around. It’s not pretty. :)

-- jay, www.allaboutastro.com

give it a shot … some of my best work is layer over layers of stain and finish.
I think it looks nicer that way.
Regards
DAN

-- keeping myself entertained

Yeah, something like a wine rack could be artsy-fartsied up a little bit. Definitely experiment. But if this were a cherry table or something, you’d want it uniform and pretty. Of course, with a cherry table, it would have been a crime to put gel stain on it.

-- jay, www.allaboutastro.com