Staining Brand New Kitchen Cabinets

saucedo80

Hello all, I might be getting a job to paint a kitchen remodel next week and it involves staining brand new kitchen cabinets, I have some concerns towards this task.

How tough is it to stain brand new cabinets?
Are there any special steps involved?

I have done restaining on previously stained cabinets and they have come out beautiful and i have had great compliments.

I guess the fact that i am the first to stain these cabinets kind of gets me nervous.

Is it harder to stain new cabinets than previously stained cabinets?

Mike Finley

Well, the short answer is of course it is harder to stain old vs new because new has WAY less prep to do to get them ready to stain.

Staining new cabinets should be no different then staining any wood working project. The first consideration is what is the final desired finish to look and feel like. Then everything you do has to be adjusted based upon achieving that finish. The species of the wood can play a role in regard to how stains take. Cherry is famous for looking blotching unless intimate preparations are done to it prior to staining. Being an open or closed poured species is going to effect the final results dramatically. Using a gel vs a suspended partical stain will greatly effect how the grain is going to look.

ProWallGuy

I agree, its easier to stain new, as you can do more to control the outcome than dealing with old/aged.

Plus, ditto to everything else Mike said above. :Thumbs:

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donb1959

Sauce,
I always clean my new stain work with laquar thinner (sp). It removes any barely visible ink marks as well as prepares the wood for stain. It regulates the porosity of the wood.Allow to cure overnight before application of stain. I also always rag my stain on as opposed to brush.

One good coat of sanding sealer. Sand with 220 to avoid "scaring" or pitting. Tack with paint thinner rag....keeping rag clean and damp at all times. Allow 2-4 hours drying time.

Brush two coats urethene, your choice of sheen. With the urethene make sure to use a 100% bristle brush. Yachtsman makes an excellent urethene brush.

Good luck

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Mike Finley

Don you do sanding sealer on all wood species?

Teetorbilt

don, where are you getting ink marks from?
Sealer is used on wood with wide piths like pine or softwoods like larch or poplar to control absorbsion and maintain an even finish.
Your best bet is to get some scraps of the same type of wood and practice on them first. You will come up with a variety of finishes, make sure that you document how each was achieved so that you can reproduce it accurately. Present the samples to the client and allow them to make the final decision.

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donb1959

Yes. No matter what wood is being used you have to have a sealer betwwen the stain, and topcoat.

Teetor,
I have seen faint ink marks on almost every stain job I've done. Sometimes it's a smudge, sometimes it's a partial stamp.

I'm not talking about sanding sealer on bare wood, snading sealer is used to seal between the stain and the topcoat ie varnish,poly,spar, etc.. Sealer also allows the surface to be sanded befor the application of the topcoat. I use sealer on every wood, Birch,Oak,Pine,Poplar,etc..

The Laquar Thinner is used to wipe the raw wood down as that in my experiance has caused the wood of all types to cause a more uniform look.

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saucedo80

how about using stain conditioner to prevent blotching?
should it be used on every type of wood or only on cherry?

donb1959

I've never used it.

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Teetorbilt

don, my family has been producing fine furniture since 1690, not production stuff. You might say that it has been more of a 'hobby'.
I have a full time production cabinet shop and we deal, primarily, with exotic woods. Even with common woods, purchased from sawmills, we don't see ink.
Like I posted previously, we rarely use sealers. Actually, we rarely stain, why scew up a perfectly good piece of wood.
If you are trying to make a piece of oak look like black walnut, you may fake the color but never the grain.

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bill806

You may want to try staining on inside of doors if no scrap is available. As A final finish if used a product call ClearLac by Behr. It brushs well and can be sprayed with HVLP. Use Lacquer thinner for all clean up.

saucedo80

Hello all, well i have only been licensed for a couple of weeks and i have already been shooting out bids. I have come to the cold reality that everyone out there just wants a cheap price (at least in my area). they want a quality job, done at a cheap price. I don't know how you guys do it, but i can't work like this. I already had my fair share of low balling jobs just to get through college. For this reason i am closing up shop and going to try new horizons, lets see what kind of job an art degree will get me. Thank you guys for all the good advice and i wish all of you the best of luck.

Tom R

You would use it on porous woods that have variations in density that cause blotchiness.

Tom R

The sanding sealer seals for 'even-ness', - - and makes for easier sanding between coats, - - it contains stearates (soap particles).