20 Best Wood Stains For Furniture (2023 Updated)

This product renewed my antique maple furniture – there was so much damage to the wood i thought i would have to have it professionally refinished. This product REALLY works and saved me a lot of money and it was so simple to use and not messy like some stains.

A little goes a long way. I will be purchasing additional stain colors for all my wood furniture!.

Was sent a badly leaking bottle. Leaked so bad the top was flooded with the brown stain. Unable to return due to postal restrictions. Who would send a leaking bottle to a paying customer?—an irresponsible seller, that’s who.

Will not buy from seller again and will look elsewhere. Buyer beware.

Very good product. I managed to get great result when I used it. Pity I didn’t discover gel stains sooner, it could have prevented some disasters. Another added bonus with this product is that you can also use it as paint to achieve a different look.

This stain is the best! You only really need apply it once and it dries very quickly. It’s got a pretty powerful smell, fumes, so I’d suggest to use it outdoors. I have purchased this stain for many projects around my home.

I highly recommend!!.

This brought out the wood grain, nicely. It does have quite a strong smell, so if inside, open those windows. This was used around 9am and by nightfall we were able to close the windows.

Easy to use. Works well. Easy clean up.

I’ve used stain for years, and never had this many problems. Applied one, extremely thin coat and wiped it off as the instructions said. After 24 hours it is still not dry. Was told by customer support that that was normal because I had to wipe it down with paint thinner, then reapply again to get the desired color.

Nowhere on the can does it state this. Then got their color matched wood putty that says right on the label that it is for nail holes. Put it in a test hole, and in 3 days, it’s as tacky as the day I put it in.

Read the tiny writing on the back and found where it says “non hardening”. I can’t even wrap my head around why you’d even make a product that does not harden. Finally bout a “paintable stainable” wood filler.

To their credit, it sands easily and beautifully uniform if you plan on painting over it. However , it is not stainable as they claim. I put a drop of their darkest stains directly on it, and it still will not uptake the stain and what it does absorb does so in an ugly grainy way that stands out like a sore thumb.

I understand that every company has a doozy every now and again, but this is the worst collection of products I’ve ever used.

We purchased a house in Jersey a few months ago, and after removing carpet found that some of the hardwood floors were in good condition. After sending them down and applying Minwax® Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner, we chose to stain them with Minwax Wood Finish.

I didn’t realize realize how many colors of Minwax Wood Finish there are. We choose a dark with with a hint of blue tint to it. Minwax Wood Finish of really easy to use and goes on well. After applying Minwax® Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner and waiting a couple hours we applied the Minwax Wood Finish.

I didn’t realize that a little actually goes a long way. We will definitely be using Minwax Wood Finish again.

Hated it. Hands down the worst stain I’ve worked with. I’ll never use it again. I wish I could get my money back on it. Let me back up to 5 minutes before I first used it. I was excited to try it. I had watched a few videos from General Finishes along with a few Youtube videos on the product.

It seemed like a great choice. Easy to work with, beautiful, rich colors. As the General Finish spokeswoman said “Easy Peezy”. So I applied it to a raw, unfinished oak table top just like the factory video explained.

Wiped it on, wiped it off. 95% of the table looked beautiful, but there were a couple spots where it felt like I literally wiped the stain off the table exposing the bare wood again. Remind you, I worked quickly, just like the video explanation taught me.

I’m going to save you the details, but needless to say I stripped off the stain and re-sanded the table with 120 grit, thinking that maybe those couple spots were sanded with sandpaper that was too fine, not allowing the stain to adhere to the wood.

Fast forward, I reapply the stain and it looks great everywhere! Yay! So about a week later I go to wipe on General Finish ArmRseal and I apply it just like the video taught and the urethane wiped the stain up in a couple spots.

I was gently wiping too! I was pissed. I’m done. I stripped the finish off and removed the gel stain and have now finished with a traditional stain. It’s drying right now as I’m typing this. Today was probably a bad day for me to get this review to fill out, but if it saves one other person from the experience I had, it was worth it.

LOVE! I love this gel stain. You see it all over social media and I fell for it and finally tried it. Glad I did. It is super easy to use. I had a 30 year old, very blonde (almost yellow) oak table and chairs set.

I still like the set, I just hate the color. It was abused and beat and looked like trash so I figured I had nothing to lose. Sorry about the photo, it was the best “after” shot I could find. I literally took a piece of 180 grit sandpaper and spent about 30 minutes quickly running it over the surface of a 60×72 table with ornamental legs, and 6 spindle back chairs.

I went quick, and haphazard and just wanted to scuff the surface, but not really sand it other than to try and get out a pen mark on the table. I did not remove the poly coat or anything. I wiped the bit of dust off and proceeded with an old sock over 2 gloves, yes 2.

I then wiped the gel on all surfaces, nooks and crannies and wiped it in as I went, left no wet edges and let it dry over night. The next day I did the same thing because I wanted it a bit darker. I followed up with a Minwax satin topcoat because I did not want glossy and I did not like the General Finished Top Coat.

I am so happy with the result. I also used the same color on some cherry night stands. For those I painted on one good coat to keep it opaque and they are gorgeous! I’m going to do my whole bed set and it doesn’t even look like the same set.

Super easy to use, do not be afraid of it like some social sites tell you. It is very user friendly as well as beginner friendly. I just wish it was easier to find in a store in my town, I have to order it online.

I’ver used this on several projects in my home, including changing the look of my kitchen cabinets. People began asking me if I had new cabinets installed. Beautiful. Used sponge brushes to apply. Went on easily.

Very pleased. The General Finishes stuff has a good reputation anyway and it’s easy to see why. I always try to use their stuff if they have an option that matches my current project.

Good oil based stain. Can be thinned if needed. Flows well on wood and drywall.

First things first, I love that there are so many color choices for this stain! It took me forever to decide betqeen a fun color or traditional stain, but in the end I went with Buckeye Brown. I also loved that it was low odor, so I could use it inside without irritating my mini pigs sensitive snout.

Minwax has a great tutorial on how to use this product on their Youtube channel, and i highly recommend checking it out before starting your project. I unfortunately could not find the Pre Stain conditioner that is recommended, it was sold out at the 2 locations I went to, and I feel like my results would have been a little better if I had used this before the stain.

This product IS thicker than I expected, and it is a bit messy, so just prepare your work area accordingly. I tested the stain on an extra piece of wood first so I knew how long to leave it on before wiping, and found that a minute and a half was just about right, and a synthetic pad worked better to wipe that a rag did.

Overall the process took longer than I was anticipating, but it turned out pretty well. Seriously do yourself a favor and watch the YouTube video, it really did help me to better prepare my project. I will definitely be purchasing this product in different colors for other projects in the future, cant wait to try the fun colors next!.

I used this product to stain a 6ft x 15in board that is part of a piece of furniture I built. The color was simply white, semi-transparent. I followed the directions to apply the stain with a high quality synthetic brush.

When I went to wipe off the excess with a clean rag as instructed (immediately, within 2 min), I found that the rag stuck to the product as I tried to wipe. This made the result extremely splotchy. I tried again on the other side of the wood, this time using a rag to wipe the stain on and off.

I got similarly terrible results. I stripped the splotchy stain off to start over, but before doing so I called Minwax to get some advice. After explaining what I was experiencing, the individual ended up suggesting that I try a damp rag to wipe off the excess instead of a dry one.

This did work a little better, but also removed most of the product. I decided to try something radical. I bought some plain Brillo sponges. I stirred the stain and then wiped some stain onto the sponge with the stirring stick to pre-wet it.

Then, I poured a stream of stain along the entire length of the board. I used the sponge to quickly spread the stain, and then made light passes across the board from end-to-end, with the grain, to gently smooth it out.

I held the sponge with both hands while doing this, being careful to minimize the amount of pressure applied. This technique gave me a pretty reasonable result. Minwax, please update the directions and provide a corresponding video to help people apply this product in a way that will actually work, considering this is an extremely thick and fast-drying stain.

So many people are wasting money, and worse a ton of time and effort trying to make this product work. It’s great to have such a wide variety of colors to choose from, but if people aren’t able to apply it then it becomes useless.

Have some compassion for all these poor folks. Thx!.

I’ve had a can of the Kona stain forever and have used it on many projects. The color is deep and rich. Always do a test spot first because, depending on the wood, the color will come out different, always beautiful, but differ000000000ent.

It’s easy to use and I’ve never had streaking or splotching with it. It is oil-based so I always use disposable tools or simply wipe it on with a blue paper shop towel. Once top-coated with poly, it looks utterly amazing.

I went against everything in my brain telling me not to buy a stain online. wow did it pay off! This stain is amazing! It absolutely coats in 1 coat and leaves a really rich grey color behind, I used a rag to rub some of it off so it was a bit more rustic, however I love the stain either way! Great product!.

Love the product. Applies so easy. I use it on my farm wood signs to stain It is washable. I don’t not apply a coating after. My sign has been outside all last winter and this summer. Looks as good as it was first done.

I used this Saman stain on a poplar picture frame with no pre-conditioning. There was no splotching and cleanup was as simple as soap and water. I will make about 20 such picture frames over the next month or so and present them to elementary and middle school tutorial students who will stain and finish them.

I applied the stain with a bristle brush and wiped off the excess. I didn’t wear gloves. I have purchased several Saman stain colors and have prepared a color board with those colors for the students to choose.

Excellent product! Very nice colour! Popular option with my wood furniture customers. Goes on very easily and very forgiving, with no lines. Has an odour to it but nothing compared to regular toxic stains.

No skull and cross bone. Dry to the touch in no time! One coat is pretty light. I usually do two coats to get a darker look.

I ordered this stain because I already had a bottle of it but was pretty sure I didn’t have enough to finish the job. I searched a long time to find one in the same bottle with the same label–to be certain I was getting the same product.

I was thrilled to find it here. Oops–wrong! Different label AND it shipped from Amazon–not Walmart. The seller also had super poor customer service.

I do a lot of woodworking projects and love building furniture. I tend to use Minwax stains and varnishes to finish all of my projects. However, this is the first time I’ve had a chance to use a gel stain.

I used this stain to finish a side table I’ve been working on and I opted for the Cherrywood color. I’m very pleased at how easy it was to apply – I just used a cloth to wipe it on. The wood took it up quite easily and I didn’t get any blotching.

I like that I didn’t get any runs, so the color actually turned out to be more uniform than I usually get with a cloth application. The color is nice and rich and cleanup was very easy using a bit of olive oil and soap (or just use mineral spirits if you’ve got it handy).

Overall, I’m very pleased with his gel stain from Minwax!.

Applied ‘slate’ gel stain to a brand new piece of furniture and it covered horribly! After first coat most of the natural wood look was still showing. Had to purchase another 8 oz can just to do a second coat which still did not fully cover the wood.

Project was very tacky to rub off no matter if I waited three minutes or ten minutes to wipe it off. I would have been better off using paint if I knew it would take three coats to cover. The product feels like your attempting to apply ten year old paint that has partially hardened.

Will never use gel stain again and may never use a min wax protect every again.

I would describe my home as having a contemporary industrial rustic look— modern designs utilizing dark woods and rough unfinished metal. However, some of my pieces of furniture and accents that I’ve acquired throughout the years do not fit into this decor, so they have languished idly in storage.

When I received this Minwax Gel Stain, I immediately tested it on a pair of end tables that originally came in a very light beech color. This product was straightforward and very user friendly. I applied the stain with a foam applicator brush.

There was minimal dripping, and I felt that I could control it much better than traditional stains. I followed the instructions (wait 8-10 hours) before applying a second coat the next day. I was pleased with the overall finished look, but I think it could be a bit darker.

I felt that I used up more of the product than I had anticipated, but it did yield a natural and even look, which had been my primary concern.

Easy to use. A very consistent and high quality finish. Great value for money. I am refurbishing some teak dining chairs. I was looking for a more traditional coloured varnish but couldn’t get any due to lockdown.

I had seen videos of people using water based stains and varnish so I thought I’d try it. I am very happy with the result. Consistent colour finish. Highly recommended.

I wanted to try this product for staining children’s wooden puzzles, it seems easy to apply and build up the colour I wanted and dries very quickly. I was also impressed that a query I had was resolved within a couple of sentences via their chat line.

I have just ordered the 15ml tester kit to hopefully expand my colour range.

I bought this to use on floating shelves I made, thinking it perfectly matched our new flooring. I was just going off of the colour on the can. Way off. Our floors are a nice rich walnut colour with lots of highlights and lowlights, but nothing this dark.

This stain looks like melted milk chocolate in the can but applies about as dark as fully roasted coffee beans. Is it really that hard to take an honest photo of the product and put that on the label? What’s the point of even having an image for reference? Totally stupid, can’t undo it, now what.

Besides that, it’s a fine stain product I guess. If you want to compare with something, I recommend asking a home depot staff to let you do a sample blotch on your material from a small can. Otherwise you’re truly guessing and you’re going to be wrong.

This was my first attempt at staining oak Venere stair treads and risers. this product was very easy to use. I just applied it with a brush. then wiped it off with a cloth. it matched my existing stained oak almost perfectly.

this stain also did not have an overpowering odor. I stained all the wood in my basement with no problem. I would definitely recommend this product.

This stain is very easy to apply and this is why I like it. Use a rag to apply light coats and away you go. I find oil based stains bring grain patterns out very nicely. The look is striking but natural.

The price is good too.

We were looking for this stain to match our kitchen cabinets and they had it in stock, outstanding costumer service.

For a few more dollars you can buy a whole can of wood stain, I bought it for the less mess then using a brush but it’s not worth it. The bottle is hard to squeeze and a brush has way better results.

Don’t waste your money on this. I had bought two bottles and ended up returning one.

This varnish works well! It was a little lighter than I anticipated. It was less brown and much more grey than the sample picture in the store. But overall, I like the applicator and I’ve used it a couple of times on some small projects.

Super easy to use. The only downside is the limited color selection. I love how mess-free these are. Great for small projects.

I just bought this. According to the name “Red Mahogany” the visual representation on the packaging and the colour of my desk the marker should have been at least close. When applied what appeared was closer to very dark brown almost black.

I pretested on paper and three different kinds of wood. All results were some degree of very dark brown so not close to Red Mahogany. It is a good thing that the spot I touched up was small. I am not impressed with this product at all.

When I used to deliver/install office spaces the cheap touch-up markers used were far superior. I honestly cannot see how this would work for touch-up of any Red Mahogany surface unless for a very minor scratch where a minute amount/coat is needed therefore the colour of this product is not a real factor.

Minwax® Wood Finish™ Stain Marker is awesome. I needed something to get rid of scratches and scruffs on my furniture, cabinets, table, etc. I got this Miniwax Wood Marker to see if it would fix my issues.

It looks like a marker. The color tip also is like a marker. Once out of the packet I shook it a few times and pushed down on the marker tip to get the color flowing. Try not to do it to hard as I’m sure you can mess up the top easily.

The color flowed down pretty quick. Its actually darker than the what the picture shows on the package. Kinda surprised. I decided to touch up a small area on my cabinet corner even though my cabinet seemed lighter colored then the marker.

Figured I can do a small spot. The color was a pretty good match. It was easily to color in the spot. I did use my finger to smudge the color in a bit. Dried quick. Not sure if I’ll retouch it up but seems to look ok.

The only con I had was when I was shaking the marker the tip came off. But luckily I was able to put it back in and it stayed on during the process. Not sure how long it will last to stay in the marker but I’m hoping to get a good amount of uses out of the marker.

Love it!.

I didn’t have high hopes for this pen because they typically look very obvious after application. This one actually worked amazingly well, but make sure to pay close attention to the coloring. The color i got went on a bit on the darker side, but I just let it sit and soak for a few minutes and took a soft cloth (one you don’t care about) and kind of buffed the area to blend and slightly lighten the color.

For small scratches, grudges, and nicks- this was fantastic! You couldn’t tell you had used something like this for it’s repair, by any means. Also it’s worth noting that letting it dry for awhile is a good idea! With a larger area you may be able to tell a bit more but the cloth buffing also worked wonders.

I would recommend!.

I just purchased an older make up vanity that I wanted to re-purpose for my bedroom. I sanded the vanity down in the wood was absolutely stunning so I didn’t want to cover the woodgrain and paint I wanted to give it color but also show the beauty of the wood.

I decided to give this mini wax color wash and try. I am absolutely blown away with the results. The color is so beautiful and it pulls the wood green detailing perfectly giving it color but not washing it out to where you cannot see how perfect the wood pattern actually is.

This stuff is really easy to work with. It was not hard to use i at all. It left a beautiful finish and absolutely stunning color. One of the major bonus is that it dried within a couple hours and there’s hardly any odor to it at all.

The finish is absolutely stunning it looks amazing on my new vanity. I am so so glad that I picked mini wax instead of using paint. This stuff is perfect for detailing wood giving it that vibrant color that allows you to still have a natural wood grain with a little pop of color.

they have a few different finishes to pick from but I picked the gray and it’s absolutely beautiful. A little bit of this stuff goes a long way I applied the first coat and could’ve stopped there but I applied a second coat to give it a little bit more color and then I absolutely love the way it turned out.

I will be detailing the woodwork in my bathroom with this stuff next using a different finish. If you’re new to using mini wax this is one that will be very simple for you to use. The mini wax is very easy to work with it you should not be intimidated and you will be very happy with the finished product.